The other day one of my friends who had noticed my Facebook posts that I had finished my second novel (my NaNo novel this year), congratulated me, and then said something that I had never even stopped to consider.
"How do you come up with your ideas?"
I was actually speechless, in typical me fashion, my awkward un-thought out answer amounted to a shoulder shrug, and saying lamely, "I dunno". But it got me thinking, where do all my ideas, and those of other writers or artists, come from?
Is it just an overactive imagination that can not be contained? Is that imagination so powerful it refuses to be silenced until put it to use on either the written word or possibly a painting? Or is it maybe an outside force like a muse? But is that Muse a specific person, idea or is it something more ephemeral? Is it a mysterious force like the ancients believed? One that comes and goes at will and we lowly humans must be there to grab the ideas before they flit away like wisps of clouds?Or is it just good old fashioned elbow grease applied to a vague idea?
Personally I believe that it is a combination of the above. For me, my imagination does tend to run crazy if I let it. And yes, a few of them are far fetched, and those ideas usually get nixed before they get shared. But the others? Those hang around up there in my noggin, or I might brainstorm on a piece of paper.
Some of what I consider my best ideas have come in flashes of inspiration. In those moments, I try to write that idea down before it flits away. I have found that even when some of them flit away, they often come back.
For those of you who read my blog, what do you think? How do you get your ideas?
More coming in Part Two!
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