Part 4.3 Ideas
45 mins
- Investigate where ideas for stories come from
Hooked by lines and images
Raymond Carver began a story after hearing an opening line in his head. John Fowles wrote The French Lieutenant’s Woman after being struck by one of his intriguing images; as he calls them, his ‘mythopoeic stills’. (While Philip Larkin stuck it out in a library in Hu-ull / And Dylan Thomas died drunk in St. Vincent’s hospital.)
((name that tune))
(((I digress)))
The course makes the point that the more we immerse ourselves in our subject, the more inspirational communications from our subconscious will come to us. That’s certainly the case for me.
I’ll add that I think people receive inspiration in the form they habitually process information; visual people visually, verbal people verbally, etc.
I am a kinaesthetic leaner, meaning that I use movement and rhythm to incorporate and produce thoughts. For instance, when I’m learning a line, I’ll tap it out on the table, or wave my hand through the air, so I can “locate” it physically later. It’s what gives me natural strength as a dialogue writer; I am good at clocking the rhythms and cadences of speech. But as I am not naturally “visual” (I mean that it is not my dominant processing method) I need to concentrate much more on creating visual effects or descriptions in my work.
My inspirations often come to me as movement – either dialogue exchanges, or some set-piece happening in front of me. And they often come through music or travel, both of which provide the “movement” that my brain likes to go into that generative state.
What is your natural imaginative mode? And what do you find you have to correct for / remind yourself to add in, later?
Exercise
Keep an ongoing note of hunches / inspirations which present themselves to you.
Also create a list of your main concerns; the things which matter to you personally. These are likely to be your main creative themes.
This is a great exercise. I don’t know why I’ve never thought to do this! Perhaps because it seems too obvious. However, I found it motivating. To know that I write about what I care about, made the writing feel more sustainable and necessary.
My list of concerns:
Loss – how we think about it, how we deal with it, what it is
Outsiders – why they are outside, their value
Revenge and Justice – the link / difference between them, how to get them
Powers – what is available to us naturally, or supernaturally
Healing – how to be well
History – how things were before us, what “reality” used to be
Psychology – how the mind processes the world and itself
Cultures – the links / difference between people of different traditions
Nature and Science – the wonder of the natural world and humans’ place in it
Problems and Solutions – overcoming adversity, solving things, accomplishment
Exercise
We are invited to read an extract form a novel and surmise what the author’s concerns are.
Then we are prompted to look over the ideas in our notebook and see how they link with our newly-identified concerns. They may not map; or they may, but in a previously unseen way. Mine mapped quite clearly; I am in touch with the things which matter to me, and therefore what I spend my time thinking about.
I loved this line of enquiry, and also enjoyed reading the comments about this from the other participants (perhaps because “psychology” is one of my own concerns)! One said that they could write about a concern they have without having been personally affected by it – i.e. a concern for other people. Another talked about writing as a way of processing personal experiences, mining the ore for creative gold.
Ordinary vs Extraordinary
The course returns to the view that a truthful observation from an individual perspective will always be new, no matter if the subject matter is ordinary.
If the subject matter is extraordinary, then it’s better to go deeper with fewer observations, than to try to cover everything, which will leave it feeling shallow.
A well-developed character can be our guide to part of an issue, which helps us to extrapolate the whole. It’s why historical dramas focus on one hero/ine’s journey, rather than staging a re-enactment of a textbook.
Reflection
The fourth week was as eclectic as the others. It started by encouraging us to get into a research and writing habit, then introduced the idea of plot development, then swerved to discuss inspiration and how this might link with our personal concerns as writers and human beans.
I suppose that one person’s “eclectic” is another person’s “bitty”, but I liked the variety and change of emphasis throughout the week. For a beginner’s course, this is probably the way to cover fundamental topics in an introductory way.
Give the course a spin yourself!
www.futurelearn.com/courses/start-writing-fiction