Where Do Story Ideas Come From?

Where Do Your Stories Come From?

 I have asked this question of writers and I am now asked this question by would-be writers. With tongue-in-cheek while expounding with complete honesty, let me introduce you to how my brain works. I don’t admit this often, but you are about to enter the World of Jan. In fact, several “Jans” live quite companionably in my mind. In short, I talk to myself… and, oh, the conversations we have.

Where do your stories come from?

Questions.

Please explain.

Okay, here’s a story. “A little creature lived inside her earbud…”

What?

Exactly!

Exactly what?

Not what. Who is her? She needs a name, perhaps Susan.

What kind of earbud?

Is she listening to music or is she deaf?

Maybe – “After 17 years of being deaf, Susan could finally hear.”

That’s too long. How about seventeen months, weeks, days?

Days make it emergent.

So maybe – “After 17 days of being deaf, Susan could finally hear …”

But why is she deaf? What caused it?

“After Susan’s encounter with the …”

Wait! What?

You’re wondering what she encountered?

Among other things. Yes.

Could have been an accident? An illness? A fall out of a tree or from an airplane? Did her parachute fail to open? You need to choose one.

Okay. I’m not sure. You choose. This is your story.

All right then. “After Susan’s encounter with the mouse on the attic stairwell …”

A mouse?

Yes. A mouse but that begs another question. What was Susan doing in the attic?

Oh, my!

How about… “Seventeen days ago Susan, startled by a mouse on the rickety attic stair, had tumbled down into the narrow hallway, hit her head against the locked cabinet, and had awakened without her hearing.”

Now we’re getting somewhere. What’s next?

More questions…

Why was the cabinet locked?

Why was she in the attic?

What was she looking for?

How old is Susan? Little girl? Old woman?

What does she look like?

Did she put something in the attic or find something she needed and was carrying it back downstairs?

How important is the mouse to the story?

Are there magical characteristics of the mouse, Susan, or the item she located?

When does this story happen?

Okay. Okay. That’s pretty intense. Never would have thought so many questions were involved, but now I’m curious. What happens next?  

Now you’ve got it?

Got what?

That’s how it works. First an idea and then asking and answering any number of questions to build the story. And we haven’t even circled back to the creature who lives inside her earbud.

And that my friends is how one author writes a story…