Ekphrasis

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

         

          I’m always looking for a new topic to cover in my blog. Yesterday I decided on ekphrasis—writing inspired by art. I read about a Poetry & Art show based on this.

I’ve decided to pick a piece of art and write about it this week. I’m not sure if I will pick a favorite piece or something brand new. I like looking at something familiar with fresh eyes, but something new should really shake me up. I believe I will be inspired when I see the “right” piece.

If this sounds like fun, join me on assignment!

Ideas Out of Nowhere

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          I love to watch interviews with writers. In our profession, everyone has a different process. I love to learn about them as it’s comforting to know we all slog through ideas and words until we hit upon the right ones.

          On the PBS show Hamilton’s America, a camera crew followed Lin-Manuel Miranda around while he was researching and writing Hamilton. He went to historical places, wrote while sitting in Aaron Burr’s bedroom, worked with his creative Broadway show team, and lived his life.

          Miranda didn’t know when he picked up Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton to read on vacation that he would be writing a $100+ million musical and book. Miranda’s background included Rap; Hamilton’s did not—yet that’s all Miranda could hear as he read the book. And it’s all people can talk about after they see the show.

Because he’s been listening to all kinds of music and writing for decades, his mind was open to possibilities. He didn't fight the unlikely idea, just went with it. He didn’t lose his enthusiasm even when it took over two years to write it.

          I also watched J. K. Rowling & Harry Potter: Behind Closed Doors on the Reels channel. She wrote her first book about a rabbit at the age of six. Her mother loved it so Jo asked her mother how to get it published. She knew then she was a writer.

Rowling received her idea out of nowhere when she was on a train thinking of nothing. Suddenly, she pictured a little boy who didn’t know he was a wizard on a train heading to a wizard boarding school. Then she worked backwards as to how he got there.

          Turns out trains were a big part of Rowling’s life. Her parents met on a train so she always thought of them as romantic. (Later on, her second husband, knowing this, proposed to her on The Orient Express.)

          Also, Rowling studied the classics in college. Her knowledge certainly played a big part in the Harry Potter series in the names she used and in the spells. Grounded in history, mythology, and literature, they were both a bit familiar and new to readers.

It took her five years to write the first book as she was also working, pregnant, and then raising her daughter after an ugly breakup with her first husband. Even when broke and worried, she wrote not knowing if the book would ever sell. She said, “I just believed in my book.”

Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight vampire series who always wanted to be a writer, says her idea out of nowhere came to her in a dream about a teenage girl and boy sitting in a field together. The problem: the boy wanted to kill the girl as much as he wanted to love her. Meyer didn’t know why but wrote until she discovered the answer.

          Ideas from nowhere and yet the prepared minds recognized them and followed through.

For the week of May 14-20, my word count was 8,725. Yes, ideas are coming to me and I'm working on them.

Remember This

From Kate's Writing Crate…

          If you can't think of anything to write, remember something.

Here's a memory from my only trip to Ireland, home of my mother's side of the family.

My friend April, who had stayed with extended family enjoying home-cooked meals during her first visit to Ireland, wanted to eat dinners only at finer restaurants this trip. Her rules: breakfast at the B&B; lunches at pubs and diners; and no American chain restaurants ever!

One evening, we dined at a first-rate restaurant where a tall and dour maître 'd studied everyone—staff and customers alike—as he silently oversaw this thirty-table establishment in Dublin from behind a mahogany podium twenty feet from the entrance.

After we were seated, our waiter, who dropped his pen while writing down our drink orders, didn't bring them to us. The waiter who did took our dinner orders then bumped into a nearby empty table as he turned around. A waitress then brought us our appetizers, but she tripped and grabbed the bannister while going back down the three steps to the main floor level.

All glared at by the maître 'd, we never saw any of them again.

We looked at the other customers surreptitiously. It was such an elegant and tiny restaurant with only eight tables occupied so disappearing wait staff couldn't help but be noticed. However, no one seemed fazed by these banishments.

Both writers, April and I began imagining what happened to them: lashed to hot ovens; tossed into the freezer; thrown into the River Liffey; or reassigned to the pub next door. Our laughter about these scenarios caught the maître 'd's attention as our salads arrived via yet another waiter. Abashed, we settled down.

 This waiter walked away without mishap so we hoped he would return. Unfortunately, I'd ordered a plain salad, but received one with dressing. I wasn't about to complain; however, he came rushing back with the correct salad.

We weren't surprised when a fifth server arrived with dinner. We hoped she would survive unscathed, but she mixed up our side dishes. We tried to switch them unobtrusively while eating our entrees. When the maître 'd noticed, I jerked my arm back and knocked my fork into my lap splashing neon-yellow saffron sauce onto my white dress swirled with shades of gray.

April and I both froze. Would I disappear now, too?

I looked up apprehensively at the maître 'd as I picked up my fork, but he turned away. It hadn't hit the floor with a clatter. No other customers had noticed so my clumsiness was overlooked—except my dress was ruined. Punishment enough, I supposed.

I don't remember dessert, only that the newest waiter reappeared with our bill.

The maître 'd watched our every step as we left. I know because he was reflected in one of the large, spotlessly clean windows on either side of the front door as we walked out into the dark never to return. We're still wondering if the wait staff ever did.

Try writing about a memory and see where it leads.

Fun Places For Writers to Get Their Ideas

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

My best essay and column ideas have always come to me when I wasn’t even trying to write.  For this very reason, I always have a handy pad of paper and pen close by, including in the car, the bathroom, my nightstand, definitely my pocketbook, in the kitchen, and finally the laundry room.  As any writer will tell you, when a brilliant idea strikes you can’t rely on memory to get it on to paper no matter how focused and detail oriented you are, especially if you have 8 busy kids and two feisty dogs like I do.  I am reaching for one of my pad and pens on a very regular basis so I can add any spark of an idea down immediately before it’s forgotten.

Last week I was waiting for my son at baseball practice and witnessed another mother (who I do not know) shaving her arms in the car while she waited for her son.  After I finished laughing I grabbed my notebook that I keep in the glove compartment and wrote fast and furiously for several minutes because it sparked an idea for the novel I’m writing.  You just never know when inspiration will strike—so be ready!

Here are a few more places and ideas I go to help kick start my writing:

Headlines. Reading the news, whether in newspapers, your favorite online news source or on television can give a writer many ideas—particularly mystery writers. News stories about mysterious disappearances, crimes and murders can easily inspire a mystery writer to get a story going.

Writing prompts. Writing prompts are popular as a means to get creative juices flowing. There are hundreds of websites that provide writing prompts including Writer’s Digest. Writing prompts can be challenging too, particularly if they are one or two word prompts.

Other people’s stories.  It’s actually amazing to me how often my friends and family offer me a story idea because they know I am a writer.  Anecdotes told by friends can be inspiring, as well as listening to their interesting stories from their childhood, or a harrying experience they’ve had or someone in their family had. Listen when friends tell stories from their lives, you may find some buried treasure that you weren’t expecting.

Wal-Mart and other Errand Stops. With 8 kids, I spend lots of time grocery shopping, running errands, attending sporting events and meetings and everything else in between that we parents do to keep their families going strong.  I have found more ideas than I will ever be able use in one lifetime in places that involve my kids or running errands—and I’m never bored in the process!

Do you have a special method for coming up with ideas to write about? Feel free to share them in the comments section.