“Where do you get your ideas?”
Every author has heard the question. We dread it, honestly, because no matter what we say, nobody is happy with our answer. I’m pretty sure some people wouldn’t be satisfied unless you told them that highly-advanced aliens beam the ideas from the Planet Bwaa, but shhhh, don’t tell anyone I told you. People want to think that there is something magical and inscrutable about the creative process; they seem to believe that authors have collectively taken an oath to keep the technique a secret from the uninitiated.
Why is there such a mystique about the idea process? Many authors will tell you that they stumble across story ideas like an Easter egg hunt designed for two-year-olds. They are lying right out there in the open for anyone to find, and we run around pushing the adorable McGillicuddy twins aside so we can fill our basket to overflowing. They are hiding in plain sight, in conversations we have with someone in the park, in a book, in a news article, in Facebook posts. They are the things that make us go “hmmm” and make us wonder, and want to know more.
And like any child gazing down in delight at their full Easter basket, we can’t help but wonder what’s inside. What if the Easter Bunny decided to distribute winning lottery tickets, or million dollar bills? (It’s the Easter Bunny. You think he can’t make million dollar bills?) What if the furry bunny got hit by Santa’s sleigh back in December and was too injured to put anything at all into the eggs? The “what ifs” are endless and delicious, and way more fun than knowing for sure.
As an author, we know that not all ideas are the same. Some of them will be empty, all flashy and bright on the outside, but ultimately just full of hot air. Some will be serviceable, but boring, like last year’s gum drops that still taste okay, but really, Easter Bunny? Who wants the same idea that everybody else has already had? Some will be as chewy as a piece of Spearmint gum, gobbling up time and energy, but ultimately rendered tasteless and dull.
But every once in a while, the prize is worth the hunt. Every once in a while you get rich, complex chocolate, with a beautiful caramel center that melts on your tongue and in your heart. It’s an idea that is rare and unique, and makes you want more, more, more!
In their quest for ideas, authors use the skills that every child will be using this Easter Sunday as they start out on their search for the elusive plastic eggs.
Authors are hunters. For some it is an innate skill, something they have retained since they were children and gazing at the world with wide-eyed hope and curiosity. For some, it is a hard-won skill, this seeing possibilities and potential in the most ordinary of things. But however they came by the skill, authors are hunters of ideas, and we see these gloriously colorful idea eggs every day of our lives.
Authors are curious. We peer into the dark places that other people are afraid to go. We clamber through windows and climb the highest tree, because who know what we will find?
Authors are imaginative. We revel in the “what ifs,” the “how comes” and the “did you ever wonder…?”
And ultimately, authors are full of faith. Faith that the right idea is out there, if only we keep looking. Faith in ourselves that when we hold that precious idea in our trembling, cupped hands, we will be able to do it justice.
So as you take your children on their Easter egg hunts this Sunday, remember that ideas are not from the Planet Bwaa, but are lying out there for anybody to find, if only they knew how to look.
Every author has heard the question. We dread it, honestly, because no matter what we say, nobody is happy with our answer. I’m pretty sure some people wouldn’t be satisfied unless you told them that highly-advanced aliens beam the ideas from the Planet Bwaa, but shhhh, don’t tell anyone I told you. People want to think that there is something magical and inscrutable about the creative process; they seem to believe that authors have collectively taken an oath to keep the technique a secret from the uninitiated.
Why is there such a mystique about the idea process? Many authors will tell you that they stumble across story ideas like an Easter egg hunt designed for two-year-olds. They are lying right out there in the open for anyone to find, and we run around pushing the adorable McGillicuddy twins aside so we can fill our basket to overflowing. They are hiding in plain sight, in conversations we have with someone in the park, in a book, in a news article, in Facebook posts. They are the things that make us go “hmmm” and make us wonder, and want to know more.
And like any child gazing down in delight at their full Easter basket, we can’t help but wonder what’s inside. What if the Easter Bunny decided to distribute winning lottery tickets, or million dollar bills? (It’s the Easter Bunny. You think he can’t make million dollar bills?) What if the furry bunny got hit by Santa’s sleigh back in December and was too injured to put anything at all into the eggs? The “what ifs” are endless and delicious, and way more fun than knowing for sure.
As an author, we know that not all ideas are the same. Some of them will be empty, all flashy and bright on the outside, but ultimately just full of hot air. Some will be serviceable, but boring, like last year’s gum drops that still taste okay, but really, Easter Bunny? Who wants the same idea that everybody else has already had? Some will be as chewy as a piece of Spearmint gum, gobbling up time and energy, but ultimately rendered tasteless and dull.
But every once in a while, the prize is worth the hunt. Every once in a while you get rich, complex chocolate, with a beautiful caramel center that melts on your tongue and in your heart. It’s an idea that is rare and unique, and makes you want more, more, more!
In their quest for ideas, authors use the skills that every child will be using this Easter Sunday as they start out on their search for the elusive plastic eggs.
Authors are hunters. For some it is an innate skill, something they have retained since they were children and gazing at the world with wide-eyed hope and curiosity. For some, it is a hard-won skill, this seeing possibilities and potential in the most ordinary of things. But however they came by the skill, authors are hunters of ideas, and we see these gloriously colorful idea eggs every day of our lives.
Authors are curious. We peer into the dark places that other people are afraid to go. We clamber through windows and climb the highest tree, because who know what we will find?
Authors are imaginative. We revel in the “what ifs,” the “how comes” and the “did you ever wonder…?”
And ultimately, authors are full of faith. Faith that the right idea is out there, if only we keep looking. Faith in ourselves that when we hold that precious idea in our trembling, cupped hands, we will be able to do it justice.
So as you take your children on their Easter egg hunts this Sunday, remember that ideas are not from the Planet Bwaa, but are lying out there for anybody to find, if only they knew how to look.
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