Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Order of Events



So, you are driving along and suddenly you spot a dead penguin on the side of the road and it hits you

SHABAM!



The idea for an amazing novel comes bubbling into your brain like a cheap champagne. It seems like the strangest or smallest things excite ideas, to us literary folk, that get our creative juices churning. I'm curious though, when something strikes you as a good idea for a novel, what order of events do you begin playing out in your mind. Do you take the idea and try to form a solid opening with it, or do you jump right to how it should end? Maybe you're a plot, middle of the road, planner? So, tell me, what's the order of events for you when it comes time to plan a brand new story out?

8 comments:

nephite blood spartan heart said...

You mean dead penguins beside the road aren't a regular occurence in Arizona?

I take idea's like that and run with them but don't forget to add a lot more ideas, it takes a lot for a novel.

Stephanie Thornton said...

Poor little penguin.

I get my ideas from history so they don't typically blindside me. Sometimes smaller plot ideas do though. It's fun!

Christine Danek said...

I tend to start in the middle--right in the thick of things. I figure everything else out after that.

Summer Frey said...

When it first hits me, it's usually the elevator-type pitch, so I guess I start at the beginning. I've never been one to write scenes out of sequence--never, ever. Just can't.

dolorah said...

Wow; if I saw a dead penguin on the side of the road it would definitely spark a story. Don't see much of those in California, even at the zoo!

But it would start at the end. I always have to know how things turn out before I can picture where it been. And then I develop characters in the end and let them tell me what happened to get them there.

........dhole

Voidwalker said...

David: Contrary to popular belief, penguins are quite plentiful out here in AZ... LOL j/k :P

Stephanie: So does that mean you'll be staying in that same genre for future writings? Have you considered straying after you finish your current novel?

Christine: I'm kind of the same way. I try to develop an idea for the 'overall,' first.

Summer: See, and I have a hard time going linear. I find myself writing chapter 14, then coming back and filling in the gaps. :P

Donna: I figured everyone had their own unique place to start. I find it interesting to see the different reasons why people begin where they do.

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

aw, dead penguins? *cries*

When I get an idea, I usually sit on it for a good while... let it resonate. I take notes as I think of things and when I feel like I've got a solid idea to build on (not just the initial concept) I start writing... Or outlining.

kah said...

It comes in random order. One big ball of non-related chaos that usually ties together in the end. My brain is strange that way.