Thursday, October 30, 2008

Plant an idea . . . and watch it grow: Generating an idea

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Need to generate an idea for a story or a chapter? Try looking through some quotes and see if any set your mind to wandering. Do any quotes create a vivid picture in your head? If so, STOP! Don't pass that idea by. Pick it up, dig up some soil, put that sucker in the ground, add some water and watch it grow.

Quotes can also help you focus on a chapter as well. Perhaps one quote may capture an idea that you want to convey in order to give direction to a specific chapter.

Here's some quotes that created pictures in my mind as I was preparing for NaNo WriMo. I'm going to use the premise behind the quotes in specific chapters:

11 comments:

Kelly Polark said...

I'm thinking the setting of the story would be centered around a pond!:0)
When I write poetry, I also use music as inspiration, particularly the lyrics.

C.R. Evers said...

LOL! Well, the story is called "Kiss the Frog" so there are a lot of play on words that have to do w/ frogs, and fairy tales. :0)

Anonymous said...

Frogs are my favorite animal, so I'm curious to see what you do with these. (Curiously, I've never written a story with a frog in it.)

Some of my favorite quotes are those by my daughter. She comes up with the silliest stuff, and it often fuels my imagination. I have one completed PBs and three more in the works based upon something she's said.

But you'll find one of my favorite all-time quotes on my blog header: "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men." (Roald Dahl)

And then there's Woody Allen's, "I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown."

PJ Hoover said...

I'm so excited for all these people doing NaNo! What a great, great thing!

Adrienne said...

Great idea! I'm working on a story set at the beach, and I found this beach quote:
“Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach.” - Michelle Held

Love your title, BTW. Sounds fun!

Brianna Caplan Sayres said...

Nice post! I'm always on the lookout for ways to collect ideas!

Your second quote actually reminded me of "City of Ember".

Some of the quotes I've caught have been my own. My husband has heard me joking about a funny image and said, "That sounds like it could be a book." And I mentally file it away until I can grow it into something bigger.

C.R. Evers said...

Hi Tara, I've had strange frog encounters most of my adult life. I've found one on the sidewalk during a snowy Wisconsin winter (I found him a home so he wouldn't freeze) and I've had one hop up to me in the middle of a movie theater hallway. When my husband see's a frog he says "look! there's one of your worshipers" :0)

Great quotes!

P.J. Thanks for cheering us on! :0)

Adrienne, I love that quote. I'm a total beach bum! I hope I never grow up! :0)

Thanks Brianna! I haven't seen or read City of Ember yet, but I want to. I almost want to see the movie first, because movies are usually less enjoyable if you read the story first since movies are rarely better than the written word.

Rena Jones said...

Fun post, Christy! Interesting idea to work a story around quotes like this. Here's another one with frogs --

“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” Revelation 16:3

Good luck with "Kiss The Frog"! Eeek, it's almost time!

C.R. Evers said...

Hey Rena!

That is a good one! I love to use Biblical allegory. I should play with this one and see what I get.

kathleen duey said...

Christy,

I finished the interview and can't find an email for you?? NO clue why. Please send ne a quick note to kathleen@kathleenduey.com and I will attach it and get it back to you....


kathleen

C.R. Evers said...

Thanks Kathleen! I e-mailed you.