"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us." ~ Franz Kafka
The
elusive ideas... Where they come from, how to get them, where to find
them hiding... in order to do this, I need to get a little personal.
But first I need to discuss the three I's.
Ideas.
Inspiration.
Intrigues.
Ideas
are pretty simple and obvious; they're the main basis behind any plot
that you create in your books. I always like to keep the ideas
relatively vague (you'll see what I mean when I explain below). I feel
that having anything too rigid, including a beginning idea or concept,
will hamper the book's natural growth and progression...and will keep
the "sweet spot," that I will mention later this week, from coming into
fruition.
Inspiration.
Most people associate this word with "waiting" for a reason to do
something. They need to feel inspired to do something. While the word
itself means something entirely different, society has attached this
connotation of action towards it. Can you imagine if we had to wait to
be inspired to pay our bills or go to work each day? So...for the
purposes of explaining how I uncover my ideas for novels, I choose to
use the far less utilized word of "intrigue."
First
of all... intrigue. Such a suave almost international super-spy kind
of word, isn't it? It evokes something quite a bit deeper than a
surface-level inspiration. What intrigues you? What little, every day
things stick out in your mind? I guarantee they are different for
everyone. Are you intrigued by history? A particular place or event
that once happened in the past? Does science interest you? Conspiracy
theories? True crime? Romance? Tragedy?
You'll find you really only need one little intrigue to get you going... let me give you an example...
When
I was about 23, I was at a standstill in my life. I had just moved
home from California, was working a dead-end job, and had no real
direction. Writing, that very forgiving mistress, was all too ready to
take me back under her wings. I had not written for years and was not
writing really anything of note, but I was writing. And then I stumbled
across a program on old-fashioned duels. "Gentlemanly means." I was
intrigued by the idea as a mean of resolving disputes. And the nobility
(and stupidity) of it. Then my mind was a whirl. I began the "what
if" game.
What if it was a duel between two brothers?
What would they be dueling over?
Of course. A woman.
And
before I knew it, that one little intrigue and a good old-fashioned
game of "what ifs" with my brain, and Fallen was realized. I had the
basic idea; what I wanted the climax of this novel to revolve around.
But I didn't build too much on it at first. I wanted to see where it
would lead me on its own. I created some characters; they had names but
no personalities. I threw them together and they began to take shape.
Take form.
I
wrote about 30,000 words but something wasn't right. Something was
just off. There wasn't as big an element of danger to the storyline. So
I did something truly freeing as a writer.
I threw it all away. Deleted it all. And began again.
It's
amazing what a little "character flip" will do for your story. In the
first version of Fallen, Gabriel Thorne was a convivial, loving man. (I
know... hard to imagine, right?)
The beautiful, dark richness began to creep in after I decided to make him more of villain. And a villain he became!
I
won't go too deep into writing Fallen as I'll explore that on a later
post...but I wanted to give you some insight into how I stumbled across
this first plot for my novel. That it takes just one small little
intrigue to get the ball rolling, and the wonderful thing is that
everyone has them. People have their points of fascination that make
them beautifully weird and wonderful. Don't be afraid of that; USE that
to propel you forward and get you writing!
I
came up with the idea for The Ridge when I was out hiking with my
husband; I became violently ill at the summit of this hike and was
afraid that I would never get down. I was too weak and he couldn't
carry me down the steep trails.
I
came up with the idea for Mutiny on the Morning Glory when I had read
about a similar real-life incident that happened over 30 years ago. I
was intrigued (again...that word) by the psychology behind facing your
own mortality...and then trying to face said mortality when you are only
a child and alone in the world, stranded in the middle of the ocean.
I
came up with the idea of The Treatment of Dr. de Rais (note the last
name is borrowed from a vicious and insane serial killer of days past -
foreshadowing, perhaps?) when I was a Psychology student. Our Abnormal
Psych class went over some of the "treatments" they gave patients in
Bethlem Hospital and my sadistic little story was born.
I
could go on and on about these stories and where I came up with ideas.
But you get the general message. Find what intrigues you; don't be
ashamed of it. But use it to write, expand upon it using your
imagination.
I
shudder to think where I would be without my writing. It has saved me
in so many ways I can't even begin to discuss them all here. But I'm
thankful for my dueling pistols; it set off a chain of events that led
me to where I am now. A few dollars in my pocket and a little time to
keep writing...
So
when those intrigues come knocking, invite them in. Let them imbibe in
some tea or a nip of alcohol, coax them into sitting by the warm fire,
make them as comfortable as possible and pray that they'll stay around
long enough for you to finish your book...
~ A
© 2014 Angela Darling, All Rights Reserved.
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