Monday 13 January 2014

So where do ideas come from?

I am about to start teaching a course based on the inspiration for writers’ ideas and, as part of the research, came across some terrific quotes from writers, some of which I thought I would share with you:.

People always want to know: Where do I get my ideas? They're everywhere. I'm inspired by people and things around me. (Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet)

Ideas come to a writer, a writer does not search for them. "Ideas come to me like birds that I see in the corner of my eye," I say to journalists, "and I may try, or may not, to get a closer fix on those birds." (Patricia Highsmith, American crime writer)

It's very blurred, it's not clear. The plan is something which gradually evolves.

Usually, I'll just start with one particular idea or certain image or even just a mood and gradually it'll kind of grow when other things attach themselves to it. (Jane Rogers, British novelist, editor, and teacher)

Anything can set things going--an encounter, a recollection. I think writers are great rememberers. (Gore Vidal, American novelist, playwright, essayist)

"From you," I say. The crowd laughs. I look at the woman asking the question; she seems innocent enough. I continue. "I get them from looking at the world we live in, from reading the paper, watching the news. It seems as though what I write is often extreme, but in truth it happens every day." (A. M. Homes, American novelist and short story writer)

Me? Tends to be a place that triggers emotions and ideas.

John Dean

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