Written by Damien Kane | 28 April 2009

A hot topic for aspiring writers is 'where do ideas come from?' As a writer develops, the question becomes easier to answer.

I have known and read about different 'idea techniques' from the Pandora's Box theory, where something is released and cannot be put back, to the process of 'extrapolation', ie, having a faint idea, if any, and writing it out. Others use dreams, anecdotes, jokes, what-if scenarios, or try and put two things together that have never been married before. Others still use old ideas and create new slants.

Scores, hundreds, of ideas flood my mind in any single day. I used to write them all down, but if I was to do that now, I would never write fiction – just thousands of ideas.

Extrapolation works for me. I have an inkling where I want to go, then I write until it gets there. My second (I think) novel Alone is, like another half dozen, lost to the world. It started as a man waking up and everybody is dead.

I wrote the novel on that premise alone, and extrapolated from it until I had 150,000 handwritten words in a lever arch folder. I've done the same for all my novels, although I use a laptop these days. I have no plan, no nothing – just a premise and hard work. As you can imagine, my first re-write is more difficult than my first draft, and requires much more crafting.

Extrapolation can work in many ways. I allow my unconscious to write. I trust it to come up with things I can't intelligently think about. This article so far has been revised and edited, but I'm going to do an experiment now. I'm going to write something and will let it stand in its raw form (you just have to believe me on this). I'm not going to practice it and I do not have a clue what I'm going to write. Here goes:

"Five minutes ago, it happened. People started jumping out of the window. It wouldn't be a problem if it was not for us working on the 42nd floor of an office block. Their little arms wave at me as I watch them fall. There are screams, too, but I also hear laughter. I throw a computer after them and wait and see which one hits the floor first. It is a cold day and smells like rain. At least it will wash away the blood.

Something hard lands on my shoulder. "What you doin?" It's Don.

I turn and spray him as I did to some of the others. He is blinded, shrieks in pain, and I pull him by the lapel. For a large man he is quickly unbalanced and I use his momentum to throw him from the window. I laugh as he wets himself as he falls past the 41st floor. I wonder if his urine or his body will be the first to splatter against the tarmac."

OK, not very well written and probably the wrong viewpoint (I need to write around 10 pages to see if the viewpoint is right or not) but I am extrapolating without thinking about the characters, what will happen next, and so on. There are a lot of questions, such as why are people jumping? Why do some scream and others laugh? Why are some of them doing it of their own accord, whereas the story intimates others are sprayed first? What's in the spray and does it have anything to do with what is happening? Why is the person who is telling the story so calm? He knows Don. There is some sort of relationship there, so why does he intentionally murder him? Is he under some sort of spell? Is he being coerced into doing this or did he just snap?

There are so many questions, which is great news!

Actually, what I wrote reminds me of a movie called The Happening, so any further extrapolation would have to take me away from that. One good thing about extrapolation is that if you are ever stuck for what happens next, start answering your own questions. So many things can happen. Let the characters do the leading. Trust your unconscious to follow its own feet. If you run out of questions and places to go, think: "how can I make things worse for my character?", then do it. Extrapolation will come much easier.

As of the date of writing this article, I have written about 18 novels in my life, many of which are lost forever. Some I regret losing, others I am thankful for, but each carried with it the same process. Write, extrapolate, get your character to answer the important questions, raise the stakes, make things worse, and when things can't possibly get worse, find a way. Writer's block? Never heard of it.

I believe all writing must be presented by tension or suspense, and there should be little else between the two. In practice, it is much harder. Readers read because they want to read more, so give them something to keep reading about.

But I won't go into my thoughts on the technical aspects of writing, as I have no clue about how the process actually works. This article is solely so I can explain my preferred way of obtaining ideas. Something about this process works for me. I never suffer from writer's block and never run short of ideas.

Remember, a poor or simple idea can make a great novel, but only in the right hands.

Many writers begin with the short story. I began with the novel and wrote my first in nine days. At that time in my life, it seemed the more I learned about writing, the clearer the benefits were for gaining an audience by writing short stories instead of novels.

There are clear commercial reasons for being an established short story writer, and the process teaches you to define characters, plots, themes, use of voice, and many other ingredients required for getting a story published.

My early experience with short stories was met, as with millions of writers, with rejection. Rejection is a very important topic, and by constantly submitting short stories you gain a mature perspective on rejection. Some publishers immediately accept, others deliberate, and others seem to take forever. The longest I have waited for a decision is two years. The story was accepted, but the magazine went down the tube. It is not the acceptances that make or breaks a writer. It is how one deals with rejection.

It is no secret that the submission process is a long road. When you have hundreds of stories, keeping track of submissions turns into a substantial challenge - one I avoided in its entirety due to illness.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), as debilitating as it has been for the past few years, has put my priorities in place. I write short stories on an ad-hoc basis, but concentrate on the novel. Writing short stories and writing novels are substantially different; they require different skills and mentalities. CFS gave me the opportunity to review what I wanted to achieve and to put in place strategies to achieve it. This includes writing as much as possible and reading more about the craft, through self-education and works of fiction (sometimes, the two are the same).

The time I used for short stories was effectively murdered, although I do write occasional stories under a thousand words. I will approach the short story in the future when more time is available. For now, I must focus on desired outcomes, and my desired outcome, is to have a career writing novels.

"Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby!" – Henry Higgins, from Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

 

Item edited from Damien Kane's blog with kind permission of the author. For more of his thoughts on all things specfic and writing go to his blog . He also has a website where you can find out more about his fiction. Damien is also a regular fiction writer for The Specusphere.