Writers have lots of ideas. We have great, immense, goobledegobs of ideas. Most of them are destined to be born and die within the disturbed realms of our fertile little brains. Most, but not all. A few of those notions do grow up to be books.
I germinate ideas or script scenarios in my head all the time. My imagination is where I go to escape when the job is too sad or demanding or when reality bites too hard. But it's not only stress or sadness that sends me to Mary Anne World. Sometimes a great TV show will send me there. I've written alternate scripts for many a Grey's Anatomy episode, and I've made up whole romances that only lived in my head (Cristina and Webber, anyone? And I always thought Izzie belonged with Dr. Burke) Like I said, my head is a strange place.
Of course, it's not just Grey's that gives birth to ideas. I've gotten romance ideas for Dr. House and Cuddy or Gordon Ramsey and a Hell's Kitchen contestant. So far, none of those has grown up to be a book, but in the future, you never know. Griffin's Law came to be after I imagined Grey's in a law school.
But its not just TV that brings ideas. Sometimes they grow from reading an interesting legend on the Internet (the MacLeods of Skye and their famed faerie flag became my - so far - three part Forever Series). The idea for E-mail Enticement came during a CLE seminar. The first book I ever wrote , Brotherly Love, came from the most unique place. Usually the characters create the story but with my first book, the message created the story. I got to thinking about how big and broad love is and I wondered why we create boxes and rules to try to limit and define what we should only celebrate. The characters in Brotherly are more "real" than in most romance novels, because they were intended to be more like us - flaws and all - and the story was written to make the reader think instead of just experience.
I hear that "famous" authors get emails all the time, suggesting story ideas. I understand that most of them respond, if at all, with a reply stating that the author creates her own ideas. In my daily life, whenever that's happened to me, I usually suggest that the person sit down and write the story. I say that because an idea will never grow up to be a book unless it sprang from the twisted mind of the author.
I've had ideas without number and most of them never made it to my computer screen at all. But a few have gotten that far. I have, on my hard drive as we speak, 5 or 6 books, at least, that I've started but haven't finished. Why did those books sputter to a halt?
In my creative process, the characters have to take over to tell the story. I'll start with a germ of an idea. Basically, I'll start in the place where my characters start. In my current project, a Regency historical, I started with this idea: what if a duke held the title only because of a betrothal made when a future duchess was just a wee infant and the duke grew into the title but never grew into the relationship.
There comes a point where I know if I'm ready to tell the story I've started. Those 5 or 6 unfinished projects on my hard drive? I wasn't ready to tell those stories yet. Or rather, the characters weren't ready for the story to be told. Because at some point, the characters have to take over, and the germ of the idea has to grow into a story with conflict and drama and passion. The idea has to grow into a book where the complications are created by the relationships.
For me, as I write, that means two things have to happen. First, I find that the story is creating circles, plot points at the beginning that get connected and looped back at page 30 or 40 or 50. Then those little circles start back along the track to become bigger circles and at the end, there's a giant circle that connects back to the beginning.
The second thing that has to happen is the light bulb moment. That's the "a-ha" time when out of my deviant brain, springing from my busy little fingers on the keyboard, emerges the glue that's going to tie the story together. It's going to keep me interested in writing and a few months from now, will hopefully keep readers interested in reading.
In those unfinished books on my hard drive, I've usually had the circles starting to draw themselves, but the light bulb hasn't gone off yet. I'll go back to those stories from time to time, and see if the characters are ready to tell their tales yet. Happiness happens, like it did in my current WIP, when it all comes together as it's pouring from my mental pitcher.
The glue is different for every story but it has to be there or the tale will wait on my hard drive, unfinished and occasionally knocking at my mind, waking me up at night. In Faerie, the glue was the curse that provided a reason for the intervening interest and involvement of the wee folk in the lives of the characters. That same glue held together for Sixth Sense, but also held echoes of the personal trauma of the heroes' background continuing to haunt the way he lived his life - which was the glue from Golden. The glue for Griffin's was secrets and for E-mail it was perception, reputation and a duty to a family legacy and business. For Brotherly the glue was always relationships and perceptions of morality. But finding the glue - that light bulb moment - it has to happen or the tale won't get told.
My new one doesn't have a firm title yet, and perhaps soon I'll blog about that process. Finding a title is a big deal, and it's part of the process I may not have gotten right yet. I know that the right title will help to sell the book, and in the world of big publishing, the author doesn't get much say so at all in what title their work will have. That seems wrong to me from a creative point of view, but I can see the benefits from a business standpoint. In the long run, a title is a lot about marketing. For my current WIP, I'm still playing with titles. One possibility is Eden Without The Apple, which I like but I'm not sure it screams Regency or historical. Another thought is The Duke Regent's Do-Over, which speaks more to the period and the history. Like I said, I'm still playing with that title. But I've had my moments so I know this one's gonna make it.
After the circles start to draw themselves, and then one of those circles activates the light to show me the glue - that's when I know that my precious little idea is going to grow up to be a book.