Good morning Friends! Welcome to Chapter 3 and Your Idea. Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.” Mr. Mayer has 4 addendums to this piece of wisdom.
- “Write what you know and feel something about.”- good one Mr. Mayer.
- You will probably write something similar to the books you like to read. – Duh
- Some of what you know and feel strongly about, others might not be interested in at all. The key is to write it in a way that will make them interested.
- Maybe you could write about something you want to know. – I wrote about sineaters because I was interested in the concept and enjoyed the research side of it. (Sin Full)
Hi. How are you doing? I hope you are all being safe. I like you so I want you to be well. Me? I am starting to struggle with this pandemic. I miss my girls and my friends and everyone other than the Hubs. I know you all love the Hubs but come on. He is rubbing my last nerve. Argh-anyway, let’s meet at the coffeepot for a fresh cuppa and a nibble. Today I get a nibble! Don’t stress, I had blueberry oatmeal for breakfast and now I get some applesauce. WooHoo! Dig around for something to nibble on. **Pssst- I heard Janet brought cookies. Just sayin’. ** I am going to go get my copy of The Novel Writer’s Toolkit by Bob Mayer and roll out our ever-favorite reading rug. Come and tuck in while I flip to page 36.
It is believed that your stories tend to follow your knowledge. I know nothing about space exploration so it is unlikely I will write about it. However, if I was interested in writing a science fiction story based in space then I would have to take the time to do proper research. As you start out, do not attempt to write the Great American Novel. Just try to learn everything you can. Keep it simple in the beginning.
As you continue to learn you can build on the story and your style. When you write about something you know and love the passion can be felt in your words. But there is a downside. You, as a writer, could have a problem separating yourself enough to adequately judge your content. You have to be willing to except critiques and helpful input.
Don’t become so attached to the manuscript you are working on that you ignore the problems. Bad is bad. Learn to let go of a bad idea. Just because you worked so long on it does not mean you have to keep going. Don’t get in over your head on your plotline. We all want to write something new, and that is awesome, but keep it simple, silly (KISS). Write what you have feelings for and keep it simple.
The Original Idea
Your original idea is simply the first idea you had. It is the seed of your novel. Everything but the original idea can and may change. Write down your original idea for your story in one complete sentence. If you can’t then you need to take some time to think through your idea and clean it up. Find out where it is lacking until you can write that sentence.
*Say you have an idea for a story set in a specific country, but as you start researching you find that the country won’t work. How? Maybe you need access to the coastline or no mountain ranges or a certain political power. There could be a ton of reasons. This means your ‘sentence’ is incomplete. Time to go back and work through it.
So, my ideas went kinda like this:
- O-B*tch-uary: Olivia struggles to come to terms with a terminal diagnosis and the desire to remain relevant in the lives of her family and friends.
- Sin Full: Grigori is a modern day sineater trying to figure out how to break free from the shackles of his job.
What does your sentence look like?
Next, we will look at some of the “what if” questions you will run through. Stay tuned my friends– there is more to come.
Polish your sparkle and keep twirling.
Find joy. Be joy. Enjoy.
I’m always looking for new friends!
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Universal Code for O-B*tch-uary: https://books2read.com/u/bOZe8o
Universal Code for Sin Full: http://books2read.com/u/m2Vdqd
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New Ink. Used Ideas. 