The Creative Process: Getting That First Idea

Some people say coming up with an idea for a story is the hardest thing in the writing process.

I beg to differ.

I’d like to share with you a creative process that I find very easy and useful – especially for short stories (but why stop there?).

How it starts

The other day I went out with one of my cousins. At some point I looked down and saw her sparkly, jewell-y sandals. I thought “wow! They look amazing!”

As I was walking home a bit later that evening…

[By the way, walking does wonders for the creative process. The Muses seem the enjoy walking so they would gladly join you 😉 ]

…as I was walking home that evening, I thought back at those sparkly sandals and I realised I had always liked shiny things. Like a magpie. And I though “I must have been a magpie in a previous life”.

And then I thought that phrase would make a nice opening line. I turned it over in my mind and changed it a bit:

“In one of my previous lives I must have been a magpie. I have always liked shiny things.”

What next?

Ok, I have my opening line. What next, though? I want to know more about this character. What can she* tell us?

[*or he, or they etc. I just happened to think of my newly-created character as a ‘she’]

Let’s take that opening line again and try to follow it up with something. What could a love for shiny things engender? Inadequacy in a ‘proper’ environment where anything shiny is considered tacky/of bad taste/kitschy; a compulsion to steal a precious piece of jewelry; an embarrassing situation; … ?

So I “wrote” it again in my mind…

[Remember, I was walking. But this is a useful thing in itself: ‘reciting’ things in your mind or saying them aloud also helps you realise the proper cadence of a phrase, its length, word order and adequacy]

… In one of my previous lives I must have been a magpie. I have always liked shiny things.

[And then I continued to tell the story as the character]

In my senior year at highschool, at the prom, my dress shone like a beacon in the night. It was bright pink, entirely made of sequins, and so tight that boys couldn’t take their eyes off me.

[Now we’re getting somewhere]

My date, Steve Provoski…

[I just quickly made up the name. We need to name all characters, and ideally their names shouldn’t sound the same. Getting the names right isn’t important at this stage, so don’t get stuck on it. They can always be changed later]

My date, Steve Provoski, was both proud and embarrassed as we posed for our photo. His cheeks were almost the colour of my dress.

[Ok, we need to know a bit more about Steve. How does the character feel about him?]

Steve hadn’t been my first choice for a prom date.

[Ooh, the plot thickens :)) This phrase about Steve simply came into my head. It could have been a different one, maybe the main character really liked Steve, and then the story would have gone a different way.]

….

And so on and so forth 🙂 and then, at some point, if we want to bring the action/story into the present time, we can say, for example:

“That was two years ago.”

And hey presto, the story proper starts 🙂 whatever happened then, that night at the prom (maybe because of her shiny dress?) will surely come back to haunt her.

So there you go

You have the beginning of a story now.

It can be a thriller, a horror one, a psychological one, or you can even make it into a funny one if you’re talented that way.

Once you get the ball rolling with that first thought, that first association, that first idea, that first phrase, the world is your metaphorical oyster.

And now the real work begins

Write and rewrite your story, read it aloud (or have it read aloud by someone else) until you feel it flows and ebbs as it should.

And then kiss it on the forehead and release it into the world 🙂

Happy writing and do let me know how it goes for you.