Blog Chain - Creative Curses!

This round's topic was chosen by the always awesome Kate. Her topic:

Curses, you've been cursed! You can write no longer. The story well has run dry, and you can't even remember how to type. Now what do you do? Where do you channel your creative energies? And to what lengths would you go to break the curse?

Honestly, I've sat staring at this topic for a while. I just don't know what I'd do. It's unfathomable lol

So, I thought back to before I wrote "for real". I've always done a few stories here and there but once I got out of high school until after my son was born, I don't think I wrote a word, anywhere. Well, some poetry. But nothing major. Instead, most of my creative endeavors were focused on cross stitching.

I loved cross stitching. And I was pretty good at it. I'd do the really big, complicated pieces. Like this one I made while I was pregnant with my son:

In fact, thinking about it now, I kind of miss doing it. I might have to get back into it :D I for sure need to do one for my daughter at the very least :D (I did start one for her, but then she came early and life got hectic...and then I started writing again) :D

So, yeah...I guess if I couldn't write, I'd cross stitch, I'd play my piano, I'd learn to play the violin I bought and never learned to use - I'd focus that creative energy somewhere. I'd probably go pretty far to break the curse as well, but not to the extent that my family was jeopardized in any way.

But really, I just can't imagine the story well running dry. And if it did, I'd probably still be sitting there, staring off into space, dwelling on all the other stories I've read. If I couldn't thin of new ones, I could still remember the old :)

What would you do if such a horrible curse befell you?

Stop by Margie's blog tomorrow to see what she would do :)

A Day Late and a Story Short

Okay, so have you ever missed the idea boat? Gone to jump on board a brand new ship just to discover it sailed the day before? Had a completely awesome idea that you just knew that no one else on the face of the earth has ever had before? You get so excited you grab the nearest pen or computer and madly scribble notes and ideas, you spend hours researching, you let your crit buddies know that the best thing they have ever read is on its way, you sit and you type and you type...and then you take a break. You pick up a book that everyone has been raving about - and about half way through, you realize IT'S YOUR STORY!  (and how was that for one long awesome sentence *ahem* )

Well, this has happened to me, on more than one occasion. Maybe not quite that drastically. Somewhere deep inside I know that there really isn't such a thing as a totally brand new idea. Just new ways of spinning old tales. But still, sometimes it's a bit of a shock to be reading a story and have elements of your own story rear up and hit you in the face. Especially if the similarities are strong and it's a story you've never heard of before in your life.

So what do you do when this happens? Do you scrap the whole idea and start over? Do you continue on your merry way and not worry about it all?

For me, I think it depends on how striking the similarities are. It really is possible to have almost the exact same idea as someone you have never met, whose work you have never read. It's a bit depressing when it happens, a little disappointing - but for me, I usually sit and think about how I can tweak it, how I can spin the idea to make it even more different than the story that beat me to the punch.

I mean, why did Stephanie Meyer go so big? Were vampire love stories a new idea? Not even close. But vampires that can go in the sun and sparkle like a diamond? Yeah, that's a new twist. If you give ten writers an assignment to write a ghostly love story, you are going to get ten completely different tales, even if there are very similar elements.
 
So I try not to worry about it, for the most part. Yes, I do try some tweakage, and I make it a point not to read books that are in the same story arena as the one I am working on, just in case I accidentally pick something up. I'll read YA if I'm writing YA, but if I'm working on a YA ghost story, I'm not going to read any ghost stories until my book is completely done (though I probably wouldn't go reading ghost stories anyways...I live in a very old house and have a ridiculously overactive imagination) :D

But I think the best thing you can do is just write. Chances are, you'll be fine. If not, revisions are always fun ;-D

So how do you handle it?

How To Get Inspired

Quote of the Day:

A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter.
~ E.B. White

This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately, mostly because I am looking for some inspiration for a Middle Grade book I've been wanting to write. Unfortunately for me, I had an awesome idea the other day and neglected to write it down. Which means that idea has flown the crazy and cluttered coop of my mind and I'm stuck with bubkiss, nada, nothing, zilch *le sigh* Maybe it'll come back to me ;-D

People often ask me where I come up with ideas for my stories. The answer...everywhere. Seriously, watch what you say to me (no worries if you are a writer and start out by saying "this is my idea for a new story" - I'm not going to steal it from you) :D But in every day conversation....yeah, something you say to me may end up in my next book :D

I recently showed my husband a scene from my currently in edit mode WIP - and he burst out laughing because it was a pretty close rendition of a conversation we'd had once.

Inspiration is everywhere, in music, art, people, movies, books (have you ever wanted to write a retelling of a fairy tale or a cool twist on an old story?) When it comes right down to it, I suppose I’m inspired by life in general. Events of the past, my own life experiences, the experiences of others expressed through music, theater, art (a really great painting can get all kind of creative juices flowing – the walls of my house are plastered with historical romance inspiring art), movies, books, etc, watching the world around me, experiencing that world, living in other worlds through vivid dreams….all of this combines to create the stories that run through my head at all hours of the day or night.

And how is this for inspiration? A friend pointed me to this site and I just had to laugh. Do you need help getting motivated to write? Help sticking to those writing goals? Well check out Write or Die. Hands down, one of the best writing motivational tools I've seen. I'm still laughing...in a good way :D

You set your time or word count goals and start typing. There are different settings for this application, everything from gentle reminders when you stop writing, to annoying music that plays until you start typing again. But the real kicker is the setting that will delete what you've already written unless you continue to write. Now how is that for motivation? :D

Also, I know I posted a video from her last week, but I absolutely love author Jackson Pearce. She just cracks me up. She tells it how it is, describes writers and our lives perfectly. Just hilarious. This is her take on where she gets her inspiration :D



So where do you get your inspiration?

Cross Inspiration

Quote of the Day:

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
~ Jack London

So, I was working on my non-fiction over the weekend, writing a sestina (for the chapter on sestinas, naturally) and the poem I was working on gave me what I think could be a cool idea for an Urban Fantasy. On the one hand, I'm thinking "Ooo, cool, another idea!" And on the other hand, I'm thinking "Oh crap, another idea." Hehe...I love it when the ideas get backlogged.

In any case, it got me thinking how many times this cross inspiration thing has happened. And I realized that it happens a lot. In fact, most of my ideas come from cross inspiration.

A lot of my ideas come from when I am researching details for something else. For instance, while researching goddesses for my current YA, I came across an obscure goddess that would be really fun to write about = new entry in the idea file.

Then there have been a few like the one I just had...when something I am writing sparks an idea for something else. A couple times, it has been an idea for a spin off book on some of the secondary characters. Or like this poem...it would be awesome expanded into a short story or novel.

How about everyone else? Do you ever experience cross inspiration? What kinds of things have you come across that spark ideas for something else?

Mr. Sandman is on Vacation

Quote of the Day:

If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness.
~Carrie Latet

How many of you get your ideas from dreams? Does your brain go on overdrive the second you lay down to sleep?

I’m curious because I’ve noticed that when I am up in the middle of the night, plugging away on one of my WIPs, there is almost always at least one writer buddy of mine doing the exact same thing. In fact, the middle of the night is the time it seems to be the easiest to get a hold of my friends, the time when we chat and email the most. Also, most writers I’ve asked rely on some sort of sleep aid to get to sleep at night. Because, like me, they suffer from that irritating habit the mind has of saving up every worthy thought and replaying it over and over as they try to sleep.

Like Ms. Latet said in the quote above, sometimes I will sit, staring at my computer or open notebook, and get nothing. But the second I lay down and close my eyes, a million thoughts start dancing through my head. Some persistant enough that I have to get up and write them down. Taking a shower or doing the dishes often loosens the mind muscles as well. But trying to get to sleep is the worst.

In fact, it’s so bad that I will often stay up until I can barely keep my eyes open, just so I will fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow (doesn’t usually work, but it does help). I assume this happens because when I try to sleep, my body is still, the house is quiet, I have nothing else to focus on. It probably wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t married…it took my husband a while to get used to my tossing and turning. On a good night I can fall asleep within an hour. A bad night it could take 3 or 4.

I also got in the habit of waking up constantly during the night (courtesy of my children) and have never really gotten over that. So I have very vivid dreams as well. Now, this is kind of cool. I’ve gotten a lot of really good ideas this way. But the preliminaries of falling asleep are a bit irritating.

So I was wondering how many other writers are insomniacs…or at least night owls, like me. Do you fall right to sleep or toss and turn for hours? If you have learned how to shut your brain off…share your secret! :D