How Storylines Develop

How Storylines Develop

It happened to me yesterday afternoon while I was outlining another storyline, and it completely shifted my train of thought.

Ask the average writer where their ideas come from and you will get dozens of totally different answers. Some find an idea from something they read in a newspaper or magazine. Others will tell you the idea came to them in the early hours of the morning while asleep.

In my own case, it can happen at any time. I can be working on one particular storyline when a word or a scenario totally unrelated to the story I’m currently working on springs to mind.

I’m often inspired by something someone has said in conversation, or a comment made in an interview, either in a magazine or newspaper, or one I’ve been listening to on television or radio.

Sometimes I’ve come across an idea while reading someone else’s story; in this case, it could be a geographical location mentioned or a character type.

Even while writing blog posts like this, an idea may spring to mind. In short, if you let your imagination run free, the sky is the limit when it comes to ideas for that next story.

On any given day, my mind acts like a sponge, soaking up what might seem totally trivial to most people. But, out of the trivia comes the next idea.

One thing we all do, if we are serious about writing, is immediately write down that brief notion before we dismiss it into the farthest reaches of our minds under the heading ‘Completely forgotten’.