Sometimes it seems we get our material from dreams, current events, or from the whisps of our imagination.
I get mine from all of the above. I don’t scan newspaper headlines, or write every dream. (I do still remember one dream I think would make a good book – a reporter revisites the site where she was held after being abducted as a child.) Mostly, an idea just plops into my brain fully formed. I can almost see it as if it were a film.
There was the idea I had for a stop action film using dollar store barbies. I still think it would be a great one. Most people whom I’ve told the idea do not share my sense of humor. I never made that film, but I did write the script. It was wonderful. The story line is completely politically incorrect. It makes fun of bulimia. It makes fun of the British Royals. It makes fun of Barbie. Of course I called them Betty.
That script is a post for another time.
The ideas I’ve detailed above are some of the extraordinary ideas that’ve hit my brain fully formed. They don’t detail the drudgery, the scut, the boring old hard work of making an idea come to life. My more mundane ideas come from more mundane sources. Journal entries. Boring journal entries like this one:
I feel like I had more to write about before I stopped working. This is ridiculous. I never wrote about work. I think it is because the days blend together and it is hard to recognize one day from the rest. This is probably why I’ve had so much trouble remembering to take my meds. That and the livingroom are the warmest. I’ve moved my meds to the table next to my recliner in the living room. My morning meds. I don’t seem to have as hard a time taking my evening meds, although I do sometimes forget. It is like I have just started taking medication or something.
I’m not sure how these journal entries will help Don’t Go Outside! Other than maybe as inner dialogue. I think I’d like to have a scene maybe refilling her pill planner and listing all the drugs, what they are for, whether or not she thinks they work, and why she keeps taking them if they don’t.
You know you are poor when you cash out just 15 bucks. I am just a few dollars away from cashing out on Inbox. Prolific lets you cash out at 5 bucks. I try to wait until I hit 30, but when the need arises…We need laundry soap.
Anyway, this is my journal entry for today…
Like I said. Boring. But I did get a scene out of it. Books are basically a series of scene that are interconnected to make sense and form a story. I tend to have a very general, very light sketch of storyline in my head. And then I write scenes and character profiles.
Eventually, the hope is, I have a complete story or script or novel.
Here’s hopoing.
JonicaBradley 