Thirty Days, Thirty Ideas

 

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Welcome to thirty days of fresh new ideas

Often the hardest thing is to begin. Once your momentum is going it's easier to keep it going, but when you've got no momentum, well, you aren't going anywhere.

If you've just been waiting for a story to come out of the sky and hit you in the face like a fish, it's not going to happen. By the way, if a fish does hit you in the face, there's probably a tornado.

Rather than waiting for inspiration and fish, go make it happen. Decide that at the end of this month, you're going to have thirty ideas. We'll worry about writing the stories later. Right now, we just want to come up with the ideas.

Because compared to that, everything else is easy.

Day One

Wow, here we are at day one, and I am so excited! Are you? I sure hope you are, because the next thirty days are going to be awesome!

First thing you do, is you get a notebook. In my case, it's a brand shiny new picadilly book. Write "My great ideas book" on the cover. Now, grab your favorite pen, and start writing, drawing whatever you want. This is all about you, and there is only one goal; coming up with an idea, or two. Or even more if they come to you.

Don't judge your ideas harshly. In fact, you would do well to not judge your ideas at all. Not yet, at least. Lots of time for judging later. Right now, there is no such thing as a bad idea, just like there is no such thing as a bad child.

So, start moving your pen until you get an idea. What do I mean by idea? A story idea, a character idea, a book idea, a poetry idea. For today, we just want one spark. One new thing that is all new, and all yours.

See you tomorrow.

Day Two

So, I have a confession. I am not writing one idea a day. I'm writing three.

Why, you may ask, do I put myself through this? Simple, my first two will probably suck. Not because the idea is bad, necessarily, (not that I'm ruling it out.) It's just really likely that the first couple were probably predictable.

Once I've written the predictable ones, I've got to stretch for that third one. And that's usually the best one. Now, I'm not saying you have to write three, but it's not a bad idea.

Day Three

Today, I'd like to talk about flexibility. It's important, especially in the creative business.

Why do I bring this up, you might ask? Well, because I, like you, don't write in an awesome little bubble. Life happens all around me. Yesterday, life happened all day long, and I forgot all about writing my story ideas until I was in bed, curled up under the covers.

That's when I remembered, far away from my lovely workbook. Now, I could have gotten up, that is very true. But I know myself really well, and if I had tried to talk myself out of that bed, I would have failed,guaranteed. So instead, I grabbed my tablet that I love and use as my alarm clock, and pulled up Evernote. I've always got it in case inspiration strikes in bed.

So, I got my awesome ideas done, and good prevailed, even though I'd forgotten all day long. At the end of the day,(literally in this case,) it's the ideas that matter.

Day Four

No such thing as a bad idea, right? Just thought you might need a reminder here on day four. There's no such thing as a bad idea, at least not at this stage. So when you're writing your idea today, don't judge it. Let it be what it is, and try to see its beauty, not its flaws.

See you tomorrow.

Day Five

So, what kind of ideas have you come up with yet? Any great revelations?

Personally, I'm noticing a pattern. I seem to be writing a whole ton of horror short story ideas so far. That's cool. I see a horror e-book in my future.

But I also want to branch out a little, you know? I mean, short horror is always fun, but I want to do something different.

Today, try to come up with a story idea from a genre that you don't usually write for. Doesn't matter what. Just try something new.

Day Six

I write a fantasy series. I might have mentioned that once or twice, a week. So, today I'm trying to do something specific. I want to think up some new magical powers my character can have. Something that hasn't been done to death would be nice.

Do you have anything big that you're working on? What new ideas can you come up with today to enhance it?

Day Seven

Wow, it's been a whole week already, can you believe it? At this rate, you should have six brand new, shiny ideas that didn't exist a week ago.

Are you ready to start thinking about what you want to do with your new ideas? It's okay if you're not. Personally, I try to just write the ideas down, and then not look at them again for awhile.

For one thing, I want to come up with a brand new idea tomorrow.

For another, I want to see which ideas come back to my mind, unprompted. Those are going to be the ideas that I'm going to be most eager to work on.

Day Eight

So, what sort of ideas have you been coming up with? Have they been short stories, or novel ideas? Maybe characters?

I intend to spend the next seven days coming up with unique characters. Notnecessarilymain characters, just characters. Good guys, bad guys, sidekicks, casualacquaintances. I'd like to challenge you to do the same. Write up this character, and put their information somewhere safe. Then, next time you're in need of a new character, bam! You've got several waiting.

Day Nine

How are your characters coming? Did you make a new friend yesterday?

I hope so. Characters are always my favorite part of a story. Making someone brand new, and letting them just talk awhile, to find out who they are, and what kind of story they might have to tell.

Sometimes, I'll find a character so interesting, that their story comes right along with them. That's always the best part.

Day Ten

I'd love to hear if anyone's come up with a great bad guy yet. Have you?

Bad guys alwaysfascinateme. They're downright cathartic to write for, because they get to do things your hero would never do. Unless you're writing an anti-hero like Ray Donovan. That can sometimes be the same thing.

Tell us about your bad guy, if you've written one. Can you write your story backwards? Make up a bad guy, then think about what sort of good guy would oppose him or her.

Day Eleven

I had some fun today, writing a pet character. A dog that hangs out with one of my main characters.

I don't think people put as much thought into pet characters as they could. They tend to be more cookie cutter than any other sort of character. They're cute, fluffy, or a pain. That's about it. Except for the dog from Fallout. That thing's got some character.

Can you come up with something better? What would you use your pet character for?

Day Twelve

Who is your best friend? What do you like about them?

For me, my husband is my best friend. Needless to say, I think he has a dramatic effect on my personal story.

What sort of best friend can you make up? Come up with a best friend character, today. Think about how they'll effect the main character, and the whole world around them.

Day Thirteen

So, here's a silly question, how many of your characters have parents? Real, alive parents? I find that a lot ofcharactershave what I'll call the Disney syndrome, or if you prefer the Batman syndrome. Their parents are dead. Moms especially in Disney. I mean really, what was up with that guy?

Anyway, why don't you make a parental character today? Even if you don't have a child character to go along with it.

Day Fourteen

So, you remember how yesterday we make a parent character? Today, let's make their child. Are they adult, or still little? Do they have kids of their own, making our parent character a grandparent? Are they more like our parent character, or do they take after other members of their family? I know that I, for one, am a lot more like my grandma than my mother, thank goodness.

This will complete our week on characters. See you tomorrow to get back to the basics, ideas.

Day Fifteen

Have you missed a day yet? I have. Because I have kids, and a cat, and a husband, a day job, and all sorts of other things. As I am quite fond of reminding everyone, we don't write in a bubble. So if you missed a day, that's okay. Don't sweat it. Just write two the next day. Or write an idea on the thirty first day. It's your book and your ideas.

The important thing is not when we stumble. The important thing is that we keep going after that.

Day Sixteen

By this time, I bet you've got sixteen ideas in your notebook. We're not ready to look back at them yet, so don't. But ask yourself, are you really excited about one? Yeah, you know that one. You knew it when you wrote it down, it was so clever andoriginal.

Hey, are you working on any big project right now? A novel, or a short story, or anything besides your blog posts? If not, why don't you see if you can carve fifteen minutes from your day, after you write a new idea, and free write about your idea that you can't get out of your head. Just think on the page a little bit, nojudgmentshere. Personally, I'm a big fan of mind maps for this process. What does this idea make me think of? How might it be linked to other ideas?

The process is really fun for me, and I do my best to keep it that way. I use colorful Le pens, and I just play with my idea like dough.

If you've got ten minutes today, try to do that with the story you can't get out of your head.

Day Seventeen

Did you do a mind map yesterday with your favorite story so far? If not, that's cool. We're gathering ideas, like rosebuds while we may. The mind map was just bonus points.

This is too. Why don't you see if you're ready to get your story down on paper? Don't judge it, just write. Take as long as you need to, chip away at it in fifteen minute increments if that's all you've got. But, if you're ready, try. See what you can do in fifteen minutes a day.

Day Eighteen

Okay, so if you read the last two days e-mails and thought, "Wow, this is great. I am so ready to write my short story! I love my idea and I can find fifteen minutes today to write it down," then that's super.

You might not have fifteen minutes today. And that's okay. Don't lose your momentum.

Now, for anyone who didn't have that great two days. If you thought about your ideas and said, "Nope. I can't even remember any of my ideas, and if I can, they sucked really hard. I don't want any of them on paper, I don't want anyone to know I ever even thought them!" then that's good! Do you know why?

Because you have found seventeen story ideas that don't work for you. I'm not saying they're bad. The law of averages says that at least three of them are pretty damn good. You might just need some distance from them. So, you have found seventeen story ideas that don't work for you right now. Don't for a second let that keep you from writing number eighteen today. It might be your aha! Story.

Day Nineteen

Now, here's my biggest problem. I like my ideas. I like all my ideas, and I want to write them all. So, I write the rough draft of a story, then the rough draft of another, and another. Then I've got a whole bunch of crappy first drafts, and nothing to do anything with.

Here's my advise to you. Write your rough draft. Finish it, and lock it away. Generally I advise a week for short fiction, two months for book length works. Then, put it on your calendar, and commit to editing it on that day. Tell yourself you can not, under any circumstances, write another short story after that date until this one is edited, polished, and sent out to hopefully find a home. Otherwise your drafts will multiply like rabbits, and you will getabsolutelynowhere with them.

Day Twenty

Where do you usually write? Do you have a set place?

I don't. I've got my desk at home, sure, but that's not the only place I do writing by a long shot. I also write at the library, at the kitchen table, at my desk at the day job, in waiting rooms, in the car, while waiting for the bus. Anywhere I've got a few minutes, I've got my tablet out, and I'm working on something. I have even written,(over sharing), in the bathroom.

Today, try to find a new place to write. See if a different location doesn't give you a different perspective on your story ideas.

Day Twenty One

Who do you have to talk to about your writing? Your spouse, friend, parent or sibling? What about a teacher or writing group partner?

Have you showed them any of your ideas? If you haven't, don't! If you already have, don't show them anymore, for goodness sake.

Ideas are very fragile things that can be killed by a gust of strong wind. If your well meaning support team says something negative about your idea they might just kill it. Then we'll never know what might have come of it, if allowed to grow.

Don't share your ideas until you've given them a chance yourself.

Day Twenty Two

Here's a prompt for you, in case you're running low on inspiration. Think of your favorite bad movie. I'm a huge MST3K fan, so this isn't hard for me.

Can you identify the idea that started the story? If you were going to write it, what would you do to make it better? Remember, there's no such thing as a bad idea.

Day Twenty Three

Today, I want you to try one new thing. Different flavor of coffee, different lip balm, different route to work. It doesn't matter. So long as it's something other than you did yesterday and the day before that.

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. Now am I saying that your new lip balm's going to give you some deeper insight to the human condition and you'll finally be able to write your masterpiece? Probably not, unless that's some damn good lip balm. But you went out of your routine, and maybe saw something new along the way that might inspire a cute story. And a cute story is a good start.

Day Twenty Four

I know I said yesterday that new things can lead to new inspirations. Well, here's the thing, being bored can too. Basically, having a new experience and being bored can both lead you to the same destination of writing a new story, but one is more fun to get to than the other.

Today, write when you're bored. Write something to help you escape theboredom. That's why story telling was invented in the first place, to prevent boredom.

Day Twenty Five

Last summer, my husband thought it would be fun to tour an old coal mine. I was, less than on board with this, lets say. He saw a thrilling adventure, I saw facing my fear of tight spaces mixed with a long car ride with two hyper children and a whole day where I didn't get anything done. But he bribed me with Sheetz, and we went.

I brought my notebook, because I always do.

And you know what I found out? Caves are cool. And the history of mining in Pennsylvania is reallyfascinatingstuff. I mean, these men risked their lives to make a meager living that the mining companies were all too often very happy to cheat them out of using tactics like paying the men with 'company script' that could only be used in the company store. I learned so much, and I ended up putting a lot of what I learned in my writing.

Be open to any learning experience. You don't know what might spark your imagination until it's sparked. And if you get a chance to tour a mine, do it.

Day Twenty Six

I realized that I have something else to say about mining.

I see the affects of it first hand in my town. The mining died out around here a few years after I was born, and a lot of our factories and businesses died with it. My little town, which was once booming, is slowly beingchokedto death.

This is a story that matters to me, because I live here.

Use where you live to inspire your writing. I am proud to be ademocratliving in a republican small town that used to be big in the coal mining industry and is now populated by tired people and kids like me trying to drag the place by its roots into the light of the new century. That pride is where I write from.

Where do you write from?

Day Twenty Seven

How do you get along with your family? Are they a big part of your life, or a topic best avoided?

Write about that.

You don't have to do it directly. I'm a fiction writer, and I deal with my feelings about my family through my characters. This helps me say a lot of things I don't feel comfortable saying as me.

And your family life will influence your writing, trust me. I didn't realize for a long time that I always wrote strong, fearless, doting father figures for my characters. I was raised by a single mom. Doesn't take apsychiatristto tell me I what I was working through there.

How does your family affect your writing?

Day Twenty Eight

With only three days left, the moment of truth is coming. Don't look back yet, you're almost there!

If you haven't written twenty eight ideas yet, see if you can find some time to catch up today. Then we can all reach the finish line together.

Day Twenty Nine

So, I really want to stretch today. I want to try something I don't usually do. So, I'm focusing today on what sort of non fiction I could write, that isn't autobiographical, because we all know I do that.

What do you write, fiction or non? Whichever it is, write a story idea for the other today. Just tostretchmusclesyou haven't yet.

Day Thirty

One last story idea before we wrap this all up.

Today, remember that your journey is just starting. The story ideas that you wrote this month are just the first on a long and amazing journey in writing. I love every minute of creating stories, from the initial seed, through each and every draft, until the moment when it's finally done. So remember, just because your month dedicated to creating new and exciting ideas is done, your lifetime of story telling is just starting.

And Finally

Wow, thirty days, and now we're done! I'm sitting on thirty new ideas, how about you?

So, now that you've got your ideas, what are you going to do with them? Me, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start reading them, one by one, with a pen. My ideas are going into five piles. (Yes, piles, because I'm CaptainOrganization, right?) Maybe my piles will look similar to your piles, I don't know. But here they are.

Ideas that are going right into my big binder of ideas for Woven, my awesome fantasy series, my master work.

Ideas that I think would be perfect for one of the three short fiction e-books I'm writing.

Ideas that are perfect for one of the hundred fiction markets I've read about recently.

Ideas that are really cool, even if I've no idea what I'm going to do with them yet. I'll find a place for them, trust me.

Ideas that really aren't good ideas.

I'm thinking pile five shouldn't be too big. I really try to see the beauty in every story idea. But not everything I write will be perfect, so some of these ideas might get put in that last one.

I am not throwing any of them away, though!

Even a bad idea might spark a good one. Or it might just need some more time to simmer, until it becomes a good idea. Or maybe I'll learn something in a year that makes me ready to write that story now, when I wasn't ready before. You just never know.

If none of my piles fit your needs, here are some other ideas. This isn't an all inclusive list. In fact, I'd love to hear what piles you end up with.

This would make a great book pile

This is a character who's story must be told pile

This is going into my autobiography pile

This can be added to other things to make a super cool idea pile

This might be a cool idea for that friend in my writing group who likes this genre pile

Once I've moved everything into my piles, I'll pick the story I'm most excited about, and start writing. And I'll keep writing.

By the way, if one of your ideas does blossom into a book, don't forget that NanoWritemo is in November. That's just around the corner. Just saying.

I hope that this was a fun month for you. I know it was for me. Keep me posted on how your ideas are doing, and let's take the next leg of our writing journeys together.

All days were originally published on Paper Beats World, August 2015

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The Days

Day One

Wow, here we are at day one, and I am so excited! Are you? I sure hope you are, because the next thirty days are going to be awesome!

First thing you do, is you get a notebook. In my case, it's a brand shiny new picadilly book. Write "My great ideas book" on the cover. Now, grab your favorite pen, and start writing, drawing whatever you want. This is all about you, and there is only one goal; coming up with an idea, or two. Or even more if they come to you.

Don't judge your ideas harshly. In fact, you would do well to not judge your ideas at all. Not yet, at least. Lots of time for judging later. Right now, there is no such thing as a bad idea, just like there is no such thing as a bad child.

So, start moving your pen until you get an idea. What do I mean by idea? A story idea, a character idea, a book idea, a poetry idea. For today, we just want one spark. One new thing that is all new, and all yours.

See you tomorrow.

Day Two

So, I have a confession. I am not writing one idea a day. I'm writing three.

Why, you may ask, do I put myself through this? Simple, my first two will probably suck. Not because the idea is bad, necessarily, (not that I'm ruling it out.) It's just really likely that the first couple were probably predictable.

Once I've written the predictable ones, I've got to stretch for that third one. And that's usually the best one. Now, I'm not saying you have to write three, but it's not a bad idea.

Day Three

Today, I'd like to talk about flexibility. It's important, especially in the creative business.

Why do I bring this up, you might ask? Well, because I, like you, don't write in an awesome little bubble. Life happens all around me. Yesterday, life happened all day long, and I forgot all about writing my story ideas until I was in bed, curled up under the covers.

That's when I remembered, far away from my lovely workbook. Now, I could have gotten up, that is very true. But I know myself really well, and if I had tried to talk myself out of that bed, I would have failed,guaranteed. So instead, I grabbed my tablet that I love and use as my alarm clock, and pulled up Evernote. I've always got it in case inspiration strikes in bed.

So, I got my awesome ideas done, and good prevailed, even though I'd forgotten all day long. At the end of the day,(literally in this case,) it's the ideas that matter.

Day Four

No such thing as a bad idea, right? Just thought you might need a reminder here on day four. There's no such thing as a bad idea, at least not at this stage. So when you're writing your idea today, don't judge it. Let it be what it is, and try to see its beauty, not its flaws.

See you tomorrow.

Day Five

So, what kind of ideas have you come up with yet? Any great revelations?

Personally, I'm noticing a pattern. I seem to be writing a whole ton of horror short story ideas so far. That's cool. I see a horror e-book in my future.

But I also want to branch out a little, you know? I mean, short horror is always fun, but I want to do something different.

Today, try to come up with a story idea from a genre that you don't usually write for. Doesn't matter what. Just try something new.

Day Six

I write a fantasy series. I might have mentioned that once or twice, a week. So, today I'm trying to do something specific. I want to think up some new magical powers my character can have. Something that hasn't been done to death would be nice.

Do you have anything big that you're working on? What new ideas can you come up with today to enhance it?

Day Seven

Wow, it's been a whole week already, can you believe it? At this rate, you should have six brand new, shiny ideas that didn't exist a week ago.

Are you ready to start thinking about what you want to do with your new ideas? It's okay if you're not. Personally, I try to just write the ideas down, and then not look at them again for awhile.

For one thing, I want to come up with a brand new idea tomorrow.

For another, I want to see which ideas come back to my mind, unprompted. Those are going to be the ideas that I'm going to be most eager to work on.

Day Eight

So, what sort of ideas have you been coming up with? Have they been short stories, or novel ideas? Maybe characters?

I intend to spend the next seven days coming up with unique characters. Not necessarily main characters, just characters. Good guys, bad guys, sidekicks, casual acquaintances. I'd like to challenge you to do the same. Write up this character, and put their information somewhere safe. Then, next time you're in need of a new character, bam! You've got several waiting.

Day Nine

How are your characters coming? Did you make a new friend yesterday?

I hope so. Characters are always my favorite part of a story. Making someone brand new, and letting them just talk awhile, to find out who they are, and what kind of story they might have to tell.

Sometimes, I'll find a character so interesting, that their story comes right along with them. That's always the best part.

Day Ten

I'd love to hear if anyone's come up with a great bad guy yet. Have you?

Bad guys always fascinate me. They're downright cathartic to write for, because they get to do things your hero would never do. Unless you're writing an anti-hero like Ray Donovan. That can sometimes be the same thing.

Tell us about your bad guy, if you've written one. Can you write your story backwards? Make up a bad guy, then think about what sort of good guy would oppose him or her.

Day Eleven

I had some fun today, writing a pet character. A dog that hangs out with one of my main characters.

I don't think people put as much thought into pet characters as they could. They tend to be more cookie cutter than any other sort of character. They're cute, fluffy, or a pain. That's about it. Except for the dog from Fallout. That thing's got some character.

Can you come up with something better? What would you use your pet character for?

Day Twelve

Who is your best friend? What do you like about them?

For me, my husband is my best friend. Needless to say, I think he has a dramatic effect on my personal story.

What sort of best friend can you make up? Come up with a best friend character, today. Think about how they'll effect the main character, and the whole world around them.

Day Thirteen

So, here's a silly question, how many of your characters have parents? Real, alive parents? I find that a lot of characters have what I'll call the Disney syndrome, or if you prefer the Batman syndrome. Their parents are dead. Moms especially in Disney. I mean really, what was up with that guy?

Anyway, why don't you make a parental character today? Even if you don't have a child character to go along with it.

Day Fourteen

So, you remember how yesterday we make a parent character? Today, let's make their child. Are they adult, or still little? Do they have kids of their own, making our parent character a grandparent? Are they more like our parent character, or do they take after other members of their family? I know that I, for one, am a lot more like my grandma than my mother, thank goodness.

This will complete our week on characters. See you tomorrow to get back to the basics, ideas.

Day Fifteen

Have you missed a day yet? I have. Because I have kids, and a cat, and a husband, a day job, and all sorts of other things. As I am quite fond of reminding everyone, we don't write in a bubble. So if you missed a day, that's okay. Don't sweat it. Just write two the next day. Or write an idea on the thirty first day. It's your book and your ideas.

The important thing is not when we stumble. The important thing is that we keep going after that.

Day Sixteen

By this time, I bet you've got sixteen ideas in your notebook. We're not ready to look back at them yet, so don't. But ask yourself, are you really excited about one? Yeah, you know that one. You knew it when you wrote it down, it was so clever and original.

Hey, are you working on any big project right now? A novel, or a short story, or anything besides your blog posts? If not, why don't you see if you can carve fifteen minutes from your day, after you write a new idea, and free write about your idea that you can't get out of your head. Just think on the page a little bit, no judgments here. Personally, I'm a big fan of mind maps for this process. What does this idea make me think of? How might it be linked to other ideas?

The process is really fun for me, and I do my best to keep it that way. I use colorful Le pens, and I just play with my idea like dough.

If you've got ten minutes today, try to do that with the story you can't get out of your head.

Day Seventeen

Did you do a mind map yesterday with your favorite story so far? If not, that's cool. We're gathering ideas, like rosebuds while we may. The mind map was just bonus points.

This is too. Why don't you see if you're ready to get your story down on paper? Don't judge it, just write. Take as long as you need to, chip away at it in fifteen minute increments if that's all you've got. But, if you're ready, try. See what you can do in fifteen minutes a day.

Day Eighteen

Okay, so if you read the last two days prompts and thought, "Wow, this is great. I am so ready to write my short story! I love my idea and I can find fifteen minutes today to write it down," then that's super.

You might not have fifteen minutes today. And that's okay. Don't lose your momentum.

Now, for anyone who didn't have that great two days. If you thought about your ideas and said, "Nope. I can't even remember any of my ideas, and if I can, they sucked really hard. I don't want any of them on paper, I don't want anyone to know I ever even thought them!" then that's good! Do you know why?

Because you have found seventeen story ideas that don't work for you. I'm not saying they're bad. The law of averages says that at least three of them are pretty damn good. You might just need some distance from them. So, you have found seventeen story ideas that don't work for you right now. Don't for a second let that keep you from writing number eighteen today. It might be your aha! Story.

Day Nineteen

Now, here's my biggest problem. I like my ideas. I like all my ideas, and I want to write them all. So, I write the rough draft of a story, then the rough draft of another, and another. Then I've got a whole bunch of crappy first drafts, and nothing to do anything with.

Here's my advise to you. Write your rough draft. Finish it, and lock it away. Generally I advise a week for short fiction, two months for book length works. Then, put it on your calendar, and commit to editing it on that day. Tell yourself you can not, under any circumstances, write another short story after that date until this one is edited, polished, and sent out to hopefully find a home. Otherwise your drafts will multiply like rabbits, and you will get absolutely nowhere with them.

Day Twenty

Where do you usually write? Do you have a set place?

I don't. I've got my desk at home, sure, but that's not the only place I do writing by a long shot. I also write at the library, at the kitchen table, at my desk at the day job, in waiting rooms, in the car, while waiting for the bus. Anywhere I've got a few minutes, I've got my tablet out, and I'm working on something. I have even written,(over sharing), in the bathroom.

Today, try to find a new place to write. See if a different location doesn't give you a different perspective on your story ideas.

Day Twenty One

Who do you have to talk to about your writing? Your spouse, friend, parent or sibling? What about a teacher or writing group partner?

Have you showed them any of your ideas? If you haven't, don't! If you already have, don't show them anymore, for goodness sake.

Ideas are very fragile things that can be killed by a gust of strong wind. If your well meaning support team says something negative about your idea they might just kill it. Then we'll never know what might have come of it, if allowed to grow.

Don't share your ideas until you've given them a chance yourself.

Day Twenty Two

Here's a prompt for you, in case you're running low on inspiration. Think of your favorite bad movie. I'm a huge MST3K fan, so this isn't hard for me.

Can you identify the idea that started the story? If you were going to write it, what would you do to make it better? Remember, there's no such thing as a bad idea.

Day Twenty Three

Today, I want you to try one new thing. Different flavor of coffee, different lip balm, different route to work. It doesn't matter. So long as it's something other than you did yesterday and the day before that.

Inspiration can come from the strangest places. Now am I saying that your new lip balm's going to give you some deeper insight to the human condition and you'll finally be able to write your masterpiece? Probably not, unless that's some damn good lip balm. But you went out of your routine, and maybe saw something new along the way that might inspire a cute story. And a cute story is a good start.

Day Twenty Four

I know I said yesterday that new things can lead to new inspirations. Well, here's the thing, being bored can too. Basically, having a new experience and being bored can both lead you to the same destination of writing a new story, but one is more fun to get to than the other.

Today, write when you're bored. Write something to help you escape the boredom. That's why story telling was invented in the first place, to prevent boredom.

Day Twenty Five

Last summer, my husband thought it would be fun to tour an old coal mine. I was, less than on board with this, lets say. He saw a thrilling adventure, I saw facing my fear of tight spaces mixed with a long car ride with two hyper children and a whole day where I didn't get anything done. But he bribed me with Sheetz, and we went.

I brought my notebook, because I always do.

And you know what I found out? Caves are cool. And the history of mining in Pennsylvania is really fascinating stuff. I mean, these men risked their lives to make a meager living that the mining companies were all too often very happy to cheat them out of using tactics like paying the men with 'company script' that could only be used in the company store. I learned so much, and I ended up putting a lot of what I learned in my writing.

Be open to any learning experience. You don't know what might spark your imagination until it's sparked. And if you get a chance to tour a mine, do it.

Day Twenty Six

I realized that I have something else to say about mining.

I see the affects of it first hand in my town. The mining died out around here a few years after I was born, and a lot of our factories and businesses died with it. My little town, which was once booming, is slowly being choked to death.

This is a story that matters to me, because I live here.

Use where you live to inspire your writing. I am proud to be a democrat living in a republican small town that used to be big in the coal mining industry and is now populated by tired people and kids like me trying to drag the place by its roots into the light of the new century. That pride is where I write from.

Where do you write from?

Day Twenty Seven

How do you get along with your family? Are they a big part of your life, or a topic best avoided?

Write about that.

You don't have to do it directly. I'm a fiction writer, and I deal with my feelings about my family through my characters. This helps me say a lot of things I don't feel comfortable saying as me.

And your family life will influence your writing, trust me. I didn't realize for a long time that I always wrote strong, fearless, doting father figures for my characters. I was raised by a single mom. Doesn't take a psychiatrist to tell me I what I was working through there.

How does your family affect your writing?

Day Twenty Eight

With only three days left, the moment of truth is coming. Don't look back yet, you're almost there!

If you haven't written twenty eight ideas yet, see if you can find some time to catch up today. Then we can all reach the finish line together.

Day Twenty Nine

So, I really want to stretch today. I want to try something I don't usually do. So, I'm focusing today on what sort of non fiction I could write, that isn't autobiographical, because we all know I do that.

What do you write, fiction or non? Whichever it is, write a story idea for the other today. Just to stretch musclesyou haven't yet.

Day Thirty

One last story idea before we wrap this all up.

Today, remember that your journey is just starting. The story ideas that you wrote this month are just the first on a long and amazing journey in writing. I love every minute of creating stories, from the initial seed, through each and every draft, until the moment when it's finally done. So remember, just because your month dedicated to creating new and exciting ideas is done, your lifetime of story telling is just starting.

o with them? Me, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start reading them, one by one, with a pen. My ideas a

And Finally

Wow, thirty days, and now we're done! I'm sitting on thirty new ideas, how about you?

So, now that you've got your ideas, what are you going to dre going into five piles. (Yes, piles, because I'm Captain Organization, right?) Maybe my piles will look similar to your piles, I don't know. But here they are.

Ideas that are going right into my big binder of ideas for Woven, my awesome fantasy series, my master work.

Ideas that I think would be perfect for one of the three short fiction e-books I'm writing.

Ideas that are perfect for one of the hundred fiction markets I've read about recently.

Ideas that are really cool, even if I've no idea what I'm going to do with them yet. I'll find a place for them, trust me.

Ideas that really aren't good ideas.

I'm thinking pile five shouldn't be too big. I really try to see the beauty in every story idea. But not everything I write will be perfect, so some of these ideas might get put in that last one.

I am not throwing any of them away, though!

Even a bad idea might spark a good one. Or it might just need some more time to simmer, until it becomes a good idea. Or maybe I'll learn something in a year that makes me ready to write that story now, when I wasn't ready before. You just never know.

If none of my piles fit your needs, here are some other ideas. This isn't an all inclusive list. In fact, I'd love to hear what piles you end up with.

This would make a great book pile

This is a character who's story must be told pile

This is going into my autobiography pile

This can be added to other things to make a super cool idea pile

This might be a cool idea for that friend in my writing group who likes this genre pile

Once I've moved everything into my piles, I'll pick the story I'm most excited about, and start writing. And I'll keep writing.

By the way, if one of your ideas does blossom into a book, don't forget that NanoWritemo is in November. That's just around the corner. Just saying.

I hope that this was a fun month for you. I know it was for me. Keep me posted on how your ideas are doing, and let's take the next leg of our writing journeys together.

All days were originally published on Paper Beats World, August 2015

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