You know, when I started this blog, I had a thought in mind. To note down anything worthwhile that came in mind. The problem with that is….I don’t have any thoughts I deem worthwhile everyday. That poses a problem. Something I have been thinking about for a while now. I mean, there are so many ideas and so many dialogues that sometimes run through my mind but do I have anything beyond that?
No. I just have rough shadows of what could be. I have to decide if those ideas are worth noting down or discarding. The thing with ideas about writing. It’s been done so many times that nothing is original and I know that. Everybody gets their inspiration from somewhere, if you have had a thought about writing a novel based on something, you would find it written by someone else at some point in the past. Sometimes that’s a really frustrating thing to get over. Or at least, it is for me.
The other day, I had a thought about a planet where there are only four research stations because it’s not quite habitable and how those four stations could survive the weather and the climate and all that jazz. It turned out that the basics I had in mind was sort of similar to the ones in a book I had read. I had never been more frustrated with myself than at that point. However, one thing my sister told me that day stuck with me.
She said, ‘Sure, the planet is similar but were there four research stations? What about the animals? Or even anything living? Are there or were there ever been any civilisations? If so, are they in any way similar to the ones you thought of?’
She had a point. There were many different things between my idea and the book I had read about. Sure, the basic planet structure might be the same, but all the other things were different. At its most basic level, it was just an idea but my sister helped me see beyond that. That’s the thing I had been missing. Now, she would be the first to tell you that she’s definitely not an obsessive reader like I am but maybe because of that, she could see beyond my dilemma.
So, now, I have started to write a rough outline of the plot and the characters and I have written a few things down for this idea.
I guess I just wanted to show you that if you are stuck with an idea and feel that it’s not doable, ask somebody who has absolutely no interest in it. They could point out some pros and cons faster than you could. Possibly because they are not emotionally invested. Or of course, some people are already wise enough to look beyond that and see the solution, to those, I bow in admiration.
bookwormmuse 