Well since you say you have all the notes you need, just go with the idea you think you'll be able to write easier. The sooner you can finish your idea, the better, as it'll allow you to move onto other ideas that way.
It seems like the "names in a hat" plan would be best for me (although, since I have no hats for some reason, I'll have to go with "names in a shoe"). With any luck, I wont be too distracted by any other ideas that pop into my head once I start writing. Thanks for all the advice guys 'n' gals, it's much appreciated. Now, I've gots myself a shoe to shake...
whats the purpose of the novel? just to prove you can write one? for your own enjoyment? for your friends and family? or do you want to get published? If your goal is to get published then drawing names out of a shoe might be a mistake. If you want to get published i would suggest writing the most topical story that appeals to the most people. unless your write really good sci fi and your planning on writing for that more specific market. I am just suggesting if your goal is to be published maybe you should the story that the most people would like to read, rather than the one you would like to write the most. I
Will never work. Not conducive to writing a good story. You have to write FOR YOU, FIRST. Then think about the audience. Yes, think about the genre and what market you WOULD be attracting, but ultimately, you need to write the story YOU want to tell.
This. Absolutely do this. I've done this, and I can tell you: it's the most fun you'll have writing--though it could easily be considered a waste of both time and the ideas you've put into the massive, incongruous, inconsistent epic that results. Come on. You know you want to.
get a dozen laptops, 6 maniquins, string, gaffer tape,a few hooks and screws then write them all at once
You're having most fun tossing ideas around, like balls of unrealized (and thus unlimited) potential. Choosing one and sticking with it is confining, and once you've nailed down the course of the story, its potential is no longer unlimited, and that bores you. Am I right? Well... Dreams are only perfect for as long as they remain dreams. The process of writing is labourous, sometimes tedious, and you'll often feel restricted by your own story. The only way of getting used to this somewhat sucky and by all definitions less playful process is to force yourself through it.
On the contrary, the story that I want to write the most is the one that I've developed the most. My problem with that is, well, I seem to have become overly attached to the story and I want to do it justice when I write it. Meaning I want enough experience behind me that I know not to make certain mistakes in the writing process. In other words, I want to write a book or two (and make all the mistakes) before I go onto this one big project. Or to put that another way, the books I want to write the most, are the ones I want to write the least. Not a very helpful situation, I can tell you...
Then write the one you deem the easiest? That'll allow you to focus on style and picking up skills for the favorite project.
I find that this helps me as well, I have a notebook full of ideas and whenever I feel like starting something new I look through it and focus on one that really gets my attention or makes me want to turn it into something more. I've also found that having so many ideas can be good because when you get bored or get writers block on one idea you can go to another and try and work on it, that's why I always have several projects running at once so that I never get bored or frustrated. And in those times that I just can't form anything into words I wait it out, a day or two or three. Something always comes. : )
How do ideas comes to you and what do you so when you have thought of something fantastic to write? Are you actively thinking of ideas that may turn you into the next JK Rowling or do you passively go about your life and then suddenly something pops into your head? Do you just go about your life looking at different situations and imagining what could be? Once you get an idea, immediately what do you do? Do you open up a spreadsheet document and jot down what came into your head? Or once you have an idea in your head are you instantly consumed and considering the minute details of your epiphany? How do ideas come to you?
Mine just come randomly. Sometimes they are inspired by a movie I saw or a book I read, maybe something that happened, a dream, something someone said, etc. But most of the time they just pop into my head. I think I have only decide to write something specific once. It was after I read Twilight, and I decided to make a parody of the whole vampire romance genre. Became a pretty good story imo. I have a word doc called Random Plots in a folder, where I write maybe a 100 words about the idea I had. Then I leave it for a few days before looking at it again. If I still think it's good, I write more about it in its own document. Leave it alone again, and if I STILL think it's good, I start plotting and writing it down. Very few of my ideas actually reach the getting written down stage.
I have mine shipped in daily from New England. Sorry. No, actually, I never consciously try to think of story ideas. I have a multitude of computer and dead tree files filled with story concepts and fragments that I don't want to forget for that "someday" when I'll have the time to tackle the next one or two or three of them. How do they come to me then, if I don't actively try to come up with them? The same way Lenny Bruce came up with comedy routines. I just pay attention to the world around me. Without trying, the ideas come. I may be watching the news and some little bit of something will trigger an "Oh Wow!" moment. Or, hearing someone on a talk show, even discussing a film or book, some fragment of a sentence will send me off on a, "what if" for a story totally different genre and concept from that discussed... just a few words, that's all. Or seeing kids playing in the street, for some reason, may trigger a train of thought that turns into an out of control locomotive of ideas. They come so frequently and so readily that I no longer bother to write notes on them unless they keep coming back to me insisting I give them due attention. If I had the luxury of doing nothing but writing thirty-six hours a day, never stopping to eat or sleep, I'd still need another seventy-two hours in a day to even begin to make any inroads into them all so I just gave up on trying. Shame, too. Some of those ideas were truly stellar but, being involved in various stages of two or three others, I just didn't have the time to give them the attention they deserved. So. To answer your question in brief: How do the ideas come to me? In ambush, like sniper fire from three-quarters of a mile away.
When I try to think of a story I am sitting in front of an empty screen. When my life seems like it couldn't be busier I am doing something important and suddenly think, 'Wow, totally random story idea!' Sometimes I even sit, clear my mind, and write. I don't think, I just write, and sometimes what comes out is good. I have had plots where I have a dream and totally twist it into a story, but it depends. Stories come from everywhere.
usuallly they just pop into my head. ill be watching something or listening to somethingg or hearinggg some conversation or wordd and thiss storyy orr a characterr willl just unfoldd in my mind. i havee so manyy story ideass now itss getting to the point where i have to many!! thoughh there hass been a few timess wheree iv activelyy and purposfully thought of a concept or idea for a new story.
like the others have said my story ideas come randomly too. I never go around and actively try to come up with a story idea, the best ones seem to appear out of the blue anyway it can be something I've heard, a songline, a friend telling me something from her own life, or just a thought, a sentence or an image that forms in my head that I never know where they come from. (I have never asked )
I spend a lot of time daydreaming. And those daydreams usually come in the form of story ideas, or a premise on which I can build a story. Sometimes movies, books I've read recently, or the music I'm listening to will affect what kind of story I'll end up dreaming. Once I have the groundwork of a story down, I tend to walk a lot. Nothing helps me blow the creative bubble more than pacing around my living room.
To me they mostly come randomly. No, I don't usually write it down at once. Not until everything is clear. When I first get an idea of how something can be, it may take a week until I realize how things might work or it may take six months. Sometimes I really irritate/torture myself with trying to get some clarity around the random indeas I get into my head. I might sit/lie down and think for three hours straight while trying to find some logic to my ideas. For example. A voice in my head tells me that the main character has a great task in front of her to deal with. And she is going to do exactly that. But how is she going to make it? I usually make some few notes here and there, but I always remember the ideas anyway.
I'm inspired especially by books I've read, the news & music I've listened to. The idea for my first proper would-be novel circa 2003/4 came about because of - 1. the war in Iraq and 2. reading 1984.
Songs, films, books, people, games, dreams and history all inspire me - greatly. Everything I've written so far is also seeped in History, from different time periods, and that's down to my love of History. So, another inspiration source could be a particular interest you have. Say, for example, if you're a Wimbledon nut you may like to write something about tennis.
Yes, it inspires me too. It's funny how video games can inspire! XD Some video games are just too good to be video games. I wonder why they didn't make fantasy novels out of the Zelda games. I believe they could have been really good fantasy books.
Assassins' Creed (series) is perhaps my biggest influence at the moment. I play it not because of the gameplay or anything, because of that terrific, polish historic story. It is pure genius. It is so unnoticed now because it is a game, so it isn't as popular, but there are some book volumes now of it I heard. But they aren't as accurate the game. If that became a film, it would be bigger than Harry Potter, or as big as. I swear, it is like the game is based off a film/book. It is ... unbelievable.
