The Novel Writing Process 3:
Finding Fiction Ideas
Without any Fiction Ideas, you simply won't have a novel to work on. And so this next step of the Novel Writing Process is all about brainstorming for a good idea (actually, for lots of good ideas - because then you will have the luxury of being able to choose!)
Novel ideas are funny things...
On the one hand, they have no value whatsoever. (Don't believe me? Try selling one to a publisher and see how long it takes them to stop laughing.) Why do they have no value?
Partly because an idea by itself tells you virtually nothing about the novel that the idea might become. And partly because all the good ideas have already been thought of - long, long ago. It's what you do with an idea, the spin that you put on it, that will make it your own.
On the other hand, ideas for novels can seem like hidden diamonds when you don't have one - and let's face it, you are kind of stuck without one.
"It is time I started another novel - there is one waiting in the far recesses of my mind, like an octopus beneath a coral reef, occasionally putting out a feeler or two, prodding quite painfully into my conscious mind. I will have to respond, I can see; dive down and haul it out, and up into shallower, brighter waters, where I can get a good look at it..."
- Fay Weldon
There is a myth that good ideas for writing are hard to find, but they are actually very simple to come by. You have all the raw material you need inside you right now, no matter how young or inexperienced you are, or how uneventful you believe your life has been.
All you need is a foolproof method for bringing these ideas to the surface, and you will find precisely that in the section on Finding Writing Ideas.
Next: Write a Novel Outline
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