I had a really great idea for my book during the last week, when I was already 40,000 words into it! It wasn’t as big as the two huge plot line ideas, I had in mind since conception of the story, but it was a really great idea, which would provide a back story on why two of my characters disliked each other so much. The idea was a great reason why! And I got the feeling. The feeling writer’s get when they know it is great. I got the butterflies in my stomach and the rush of excitement. I knew this was an unexpected twist my readers would love.  

This idea seemingly came out of nowhere, well it seemed that way to me. I can’t say I watched or heard anything that I later wrote about, recently. I was going to bed but, I ended up writing the scene on my phone as it just flowed out of me, there wasn’t much to edit the next day, just embellish.

I had mentioned in a previous blog post, that most of my ideas came at the beginning process of planning and writing a book, well this post is to say that inspiration and great ideas strike all the time. I had implied that idea formulation is most important, prior to writing, but truthfully this process continues long into the book writing stage.

The ideas don’t stop, they keep coming all the time. Ideas are important at any stage of writing.

A story isn’t just a big idea or two, it is many smaller ideas, threads of inspiration, which collaborate and weave together to create the rich tapestry of the story, to make it more engaging and reader worthy.

Why is that? Why don’t the ideas stop coming? Why shouldn’t they stop, when you decide you don’t particularly need any more ideas?

Steven Johnson suggest that an idea isn’t an isolated function. That when an idea is realised, it also creates a network.

The “idea is a network, a network of neurons, firing in sync with each other inside your brain. It is a new configuration that has never formed before.”

Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from at TedGlobal2010

It makes sense, why else would I keep getting seemingly random ideas for this story if my first two ideas hadn’t created a network, a network that created people who were real in my mind, with jobs, experiences, thoughts and feelings. As they continued to live in this network in my mind, they continued to evolve, finally taking on a life of their own in my mind (one which I may not even be aware of!) which then created connections, sort of like a neighbourhood, which generated more ideas for me to use.

Steven Johnson, among many others, has said many ideas need to procrastinate: When we have an idea, but are unsure how to progress, then it is time to procrastinate, perhaps work on other things, but always keeping the idea at the back of your mind, as the brain works on developing this network and gathering more information. This could take days, weeks, months or years.

Steven Johnson then answers the question that we all would love to know the answer to: “How do you get your brain into an environment where these new networks are likely to form?” His answer:

Ideas “are cobbled together by whatever parts that happen to be around nearby. We take ideas from other people…  We stitch them together into new forms and we create something new…That’s really where innovation happens.”

Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from at TedGlobal2010

Doesn’t that sound like writing?

There are so few original ideas to write about, but so many different ways to write about an old subject, so that they still feel original and new? How many times do writers draw on their own experiences or those of others around them or social media? Writers don’t pluck these ideas out of thin air. Many have been brewing, growing and creating networks inside the mind for many years. This has been called the incubation or procrastination period.

And how easy it is for us writers to procrastinate. Well now we have good reason!

Kevin Dunbar actually did an experiment to prove it. He visited science labs, a place where ideas/hypothesis are continually given the opportunity to be tested. A place where innovation is happening. Dunbar found that innovation mainly occurred in the conference meetings, where findings, data and mistakes are shared and discussed. Then there is conversation, where new ideas and suggestions were propagated. These built on the findings, which led to innovation.

So, even if you are stuck right now, you don’t know where you are going in your writing or where to start. Don’t worry, your mind is working hard, creating new networks in order to generate the ideas that will move you forward in your writing. We are learning and growing every day in all our interactions and if you are out of ideas right now, you won’t be soon. You will talk to someone, read about something, listen to something, make a few corrections. The networks will start working inside your mind and the ideas come and slot into your story, seamlessly.

Keep trying on ideas till you find the one that fits your story, because if you are thinking about the story the ideas won’t stop coming.