Writing and ideas
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:40 pm
Ideas come from lots of places. Turning those ideas into finished writing takes time to learn. One way to learn is to look at books or TV shows or movies and figure out what makes each one interesting and exciting. Why do you want to read or watch it over and over? The characters? The technology? The exotic or strange setting? Once you begin to understand how it was all put together, you'll have a better idea of how to put your own stories together.
The idea reservoir that you carry in your head can be added to by both old and new ideas. Books about history, science and mythology can help add ideas to your current inventory. Magazines like Popular Science can surprise and amaze you. And inspire. The Japanese are building robotic humanoids now, like Honda's Asimo. Various strategies and technologies are being developed to fight global warming. However, history tells us that man has not changed in many fundamental ways. Wars are still waged. Resources are fought over. Greed is still causing problems from the individual to the government level.
Learning about the past is a good way to see how other people acted and reacted to the world around them, both the heroes and the bad guys. Good history shows the best and worst in human beings, and it tends to repeat.
Now when you have an idea, you need to place your character in a setting, with certain problems, and decide how he's going to survive. What abilities does he have? Any weaknesses? What motivates him? What are his goals?
Bringing the ideas together:
You may be able to see your character in your mind's eye, you might imagine snippets of dialogue or picture dramatic scenes of combat. Write it all down. It doesn't matter if it's all in order. Put down what you've got because those words and/or images are what got you excited. And being excited and having fun need to happen first.
Whether you're designing an entire world or just a little part of one, it needs to feel right and be convincing. And don't tell the reader how scary your world is, describe it. Not every detail but enough to paint a basic picture. Of course, parts of it are going to be familiar to the reader but the weird, the strange or different are what's going to get his attention.
And in the actual writing, talk about the things the reader really needs to see in some detail but not every little thing. Avoid: "The rays of the morning sun danced off his dew drenched blade as he slogged through the muck clinging to his boots like the tentacles of a..."
Research:
Odds are, most of us don't know everything about everything. Sure, you can tell just about any story well enough without too many props and such, but if your character does something or has something that involves the real world, you need to know how that works. Say your character is a Special Forces soldier. It's not enough to know what he's carrying. How do these specialized forces work in general and your kind of environment in particular? You could take that info and project it into the future or another planet. It adds a sense of realism to an otherwise fantastic situation.
You should also read up on great leaders and stories about average grunts in the field.
If you're setting is in the past, you need to know about the time period. If you go to another country you're not familiar with, the details matter.
Finally:
You've got your main character, alone or part of a group, a mission, a goal, and bad guys/monsters/robots/aliens in his way. Sure, there's going to be combat, but what's going to make your presentation different? A unique weapon/gimmick/power? An unusual adversary with unique weapons/gimmicks/powers?
The point is, you came up with a cool idea/character/weapon/gimmick/power/setting, and in order for it to be really cool, you need to develop it. After writing down your basic ideas, you need to flesh it out with some detail and give it some level of uniqueness. And if it seems real, it will draw readers in. It will make them think: "Hey! I want to play that! That is so cool!"
Alex Marciniszyn
The idea reservoir that you carry in your head can be added to by both old and new ideas. Books about history, science and mythology can help add ideas to your current inventory. Magazines like Popular Science can surprise and amaze you. And inspire. The Japanese are building robotic humanoids now, like Honda's Asimo. Various strategies and technologies are being developed to fight global warming. However, history tells us that man has not changed in many fundamental ways. Wars are still waged. Resources are fought over. Greed is still causing problems from the individual to the government level.
Learning about the past is a good way to see how other people acted and reacted to the world around them, both the heroes and the bad guys. Good history shows the best and worst in human beings, and it tends to repeat.
Now when you have an idea, you need to place your character in a setting, with certain problems, and decide how he's going to survive. What abilities does he have? Any weaknesses? What motivates him? What are his goals?
Bringing the ideas together:
You may be able to see your character in your mind's eye, you might imagine snippets of dialogue or picture dramatic scenes of combat. Write it all down. It doesn't matter if it's all in order. Put down what you've got because those words and/or images are what got you excited. And being excited and having fun need to happen first.
Whether you're designing an entire world or just a little part of one, it needs to feel right and be convincing. And don't tell the reader how scary your world is, describe it. Not every detail but enough to paint a basic picture. Of course, parts of it are going to be familiar to the reader but the weird, the strange or different are what's going to get his attention.
And in the actual writing, talk about the things the reader really needs to see in some detail but not every little thing. Avoid: "The rays of the morning sun danced off his dew drenched blade as he slogged through the muck clinging to his boots like the tentacles of a..."
Research:
Odds are, most of us don't know everything about everything. Sure, you can tell just about any story well enough without too many props and such, but if your character does something or has something that involves the real world, you need to know how that works. Say your character is a Special Forces soldier. It's not enough to know what he's carrying. How do these specialized forces work in general and your kind of environment in particular? You could take that info and project it into the future or another planet. It adds a sense of realism to an otherwise fantastic situation.
You should also read up on great leaders and stories about average grunts in the field.
If you're setting is in the past, you need to know about the time period. If you go to another country you're not familiar with, the details matter.
Finally:
You've got your main character, alone or part of a group, a mission, a goal, and bad guys/monsters/robots/aliens in his way. Sure, there's going to be combat, but what's going to make your presentation different? A unique weapon/gimmick/power? An unusual adversary with unique weapons/gimmicks/powers?
The point is, you came up with a cool idea/character/weapon/gimmick/power/setting, and in order for it to be really cool, you need to develop it. After writing down your basic ideas, you need to flesh it out with some detail and give it some level of uniqueness. And if it seems real, it will draw readers in. It will make them think: "Hey! I want to play that! That is so cool!"
Alex Marciniszyn