There are two places where my free form ideas Long motorbike rides and long walks when my mind is allowed to freely think and expand on ideas and thoughts So when planning a book I get on my motorbike and just hit the road and clear my mind of distractions and just... listen to the thoughts and let them form in my mind The same works when walking as well, but it's far easier to be distracted on a walk - on the bike, there is no phone no email no social contact.. just me the road and the engine - it's a bit like meditating
I guess that's true if you take your phone while walking, or an iPod or something. I like to leave all that stuff behind whenever possible and just disconnect. And I do love the active meditations—the walking, riding, driving what-have-you.
That can certainly work - I think for me the whole riding thing is just the drone of the engine and the complete occupation of mind and attention. The irony is that that complete occupation of mind also allows my mind to meditate on some level and just get to work as it were. But each to their own, I don't think there is a right or wrong method except to say that trying to force it never works well.
Well said and I completely agree. The 2 Ideas threads got merged into one until Moose realized they're quite different (this one is serious, Alan Aspie's is non-serious). Some of the posts are in the wrong threads, but I've started a conversation with Moose and they should be sorted soon. In case anybody notices weirdness, like their post missing or strange posts that appeared from nowhere, just hang out for a while, it should all be fixed soon.
A few nights ago I needed to ponder deeply, so as usual in those cases (that require a deeper concentration than usual) I wanted to create a different state of consciousness. Not in the way people often do, but by getting into one of those meditative states, so I ended up switching off all the lights in the house and the radio which is usually on, and walked from room to room, sometimes looking out into the night sometimes into the dark depths of a room. It felt very odd and surreal, and pretty soon my mind started working the way I wanted it to. All the light came from the moon, and was pale and blue-ish. Very different from the way I normally experience the house. It became a strange alien place. Uncanny I suppose. Conjuring up a sense of the uncanny is a good way to shake yourself out of seeing things through such familiar eyes.
I've only recently started writing, always wanted to, just didn't have the right ideas or the time (feeble excuse, I know). However, I've started two very different styles of books/stories. The first one involves my 3 year old daughter going on a string of adventures with her grandma's dog. Very short stories. The ideas for these adventures come mainly from asking her what type of story she wants me to write for her. She seems to have quite a creative/inquisitive mind now. We've got travelling in a spaceship finished (I'm waiting to add this for critique once I qualify on here). I've just started one about Monster Trucks - but only really got the opening few lines completed (writers block is a b**ch). The second idea, which I know will take me ages as I need to do a lot of research, which I love doing, is going to be about a serial killer who hears the voice of his dead twin pushing him to commit these crimes. This was inspired after starting the read Stephen King's 'IT'.
I type numbers for my job and I spend a lot of time telling myself stories. Or thinking through what I'm working on. I keep paper and a pencil nearby just in case things get too muddy. I used up a whole stack of itty Post-Its before I realized I could just bring a small pad of paper to work. I don't know that I get my ideas from anywhere specifically, but the biggest shift in my writing came after I read Weaveworld by Clive Barker. It was almost like I gave myself permission to write the way I truly wanted to, which is dark and never really happy but maintains a bleak optimism along the edge to keep the reader going. Neil Gaiman is another author who showed me I could be weird with my world building and it could pay off. He tends to stick to mythology a bit, which he does well, but his work helped me form the mythology of the series I'm writing (cross between Norse and elements of Native American, plus a bunch of other stuff). I think as I open up to further possibilities, I'll grow even more into the style I want. If I can figure out how to stop being so dialogue heavy, then I'll be amazing.
@Pazcore1, I think dialoguing with and writing for your daughter is a great way to work up ideas! @Dogberry's Watch, I did a college paper on Norse mythology and have always liked it. Also, I really want to see what you do with Gabriel when you expand that story. Dark with a bleak optimism is a good way to go and it seems, from what little I've seen, to suit you well.
It's a mystery to me where my ideas come from. They just appear in my head, not spontaneously, but following a lot of thinking. And I do my best thinking in the pool and while I am walking.
I have been a voracious since grade school. I doubt there is a really NEW thought anywhere in my brain.
