How to Start

When people ask about my writing, they inevitably ask, “How do you get your ideas?” I can’t speak for any other writer. Joining Saturday Writers has taught me that we differ in our processes. However, my answer may help you.

First, I read a lot. Not that plagiarism is the basis for my writing, but it helps me be creative. What is a good movie? What are believable plots? Seeing how others have leaped beyond the world in fiction has opened my eyes to possibilities.

For me, the plot is at the root. Something happens, something exists, or something changes. This starts my ball rolling. Writing about my neighbor mowing the lawn would not make for great reading.

You ask, “How about some examples?”

Consider a man walking home who finds something in the grass. He picks it up. It’s a [blank]. How does that change his life, direction, and well-being? Do these issues impact his family, or does he keep what he found away from his family? How did the [blank] get there? Did someone lose it or throw it away? Was it stolen? Is it a trap?

The [blank] could be a gun, a diamond ring, a winning lottery ticket, a severed hand, or a hotel room key. Each of these starts you in a different direction with unlimited possibilities.

I started a novella based on something found in a Robert Ludlum book I checked out of the library. The story has nothing to do with Robert’s book. I created my fiction based on what the book’s previous reader left behind.

One short story, a published winner, is a continuation and variation of an assignment my daughter wrote for school. And yes, I asked for and received her permission to expand on her plot.

Ever read a book on mystical powers? My first was Steven King’s, Carrie. He doesn’t own the patent on supernatural, so I invented a person with power and thought about how their family would react. What would happen? What is the endgame? The result: a dialog-only, short story. Writing a two-thousand-word story with no tags or descriptive prose was a fun challenge. Just a conversation between two people. It won a contest award and was published.

Remember, a novel must come to life through one or more characters to succeed. We don’t identify with the gun in Glen Swarthout’s 1957 novel The Shootist. We relate to John Bernard (John Wayne) or Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard), the shootist and the widow’s son, and how these characters deal with an unstoppable death.

Find a plot in action, item, or event. Figure out who it affects and how. Open your laptop or grab a pen and paper. Slip inside your characters and tell us how they act.