The Process: Part 2 - Idea Generation

One of the most common - if not THE most common - questions that writers of any stripe, from Rothfuss and Martin to myself and the word criminal that wrote Twilight, receive is this (read this out loud in a curious voice with the intention of really only wanting a one-sentence response): how do you come up with your ideas?

For the sentient raccoon that 'wrote' 50 Shades of Grey, it was writing Twilight porn, changing the names, adding in...uh...I don't know, an extension cord and edible condoms?..., and marketing it as 'new BDSM' for bored, sexless housewives. I mean, it WORKED, so it worked but still.

For me, it's a bit different. It comes out of nowhere.

I could be in a bar, drinking a good beer, and maybe the way the waitress walks sparks a description in my head. Something like 'she had a sway to her hips that promised a fun night and a sore morning'. Or, you know, something less hacky.

I could be at a LAN and come up with one word out of nowhere: warehouse - and it turns into the basis of the entire universe. Or at that same LAN, I could be running a game of Fiasco and have it come out so dark and creepy that I go home and write for eight hours afterwards, not sleeping at all. 

There is no real rhyme or reason to it. It just happens when it likes, usually when it's inconvenient. I mean, if I'm making out with a girl I'm dating, I don't...hahahahahahahhahaha. Okay. Sorry, couldn't resist. 

My point is that there is no real way to come up with ideas aside from just...thinking. Take inspiration from a walk around a park, sure. Pound a glass of scotch and write away. Base characters off of exes, because hell, they deserve it. Whatever works, use it! 

Next Entry: Names