Ideas into reality

I first started writing my novel years ago. It was a skeleton of what it is now. Actually, less than a skeleton, it was the femur, a few carpus bones and maybe a rib.  I had an idea of what I wanted and I wrote it down. It wasn't until a few years later that I got more serious about it. My commute to work at that time was somewhere between 35-45 minutes, I used that time to really focus on what I would write and how I could build upon my little idea. I would figure out what scene I would write that night and think of dialogue, plot building, character reactions, what characters would be present in the scene, etc. Then I would get home and get to work writing. Its interesting to me to see how that tiny, little idea has now become something that I simultaneously hate and love at the same time(if you are a writer, you understand the love/hate), but also something that once its done, I will want to share with everyone.

 

Ideas are easy to come by, they are around us every day, all day. I sometimes meet people and think, "Oh my gosh, they would make a phenomenal character." Or I hear a story and I think, "Man, that would be really cool if this (this, being whatever I think would be cooler) would happen." Also, some ideas are stupid. That's some truth for you, right there. Thats why when you have those ideas, you have to follow through with them and try and build upon them. Usually you get stuck or hit a dead end or everyone of your family and friends are telling you that its a stupid idea, thats the time you should probably quit and find a new idea to work on. Its weeding though all of your crazy ideas and picking the ones that make you excited; the ones that make you want to tell the whole world. 

I once went to a conference and in one of the panels, I remember the author talking about the "zing". Its a feeling you get when something strikes your artistic brain, or it hits home to something that piques your interest. Whatever it is that gives you that "zing", I say write it down. Some ideas will never go anywhere, but then you have others that could become the next big thing. Every great project starts with a little idea. Its the amount of work and effort that you put behind that idea that determines the outcome. Tracy Hickman, a famous author from Utah, once said, "Talent without discipline is a waste of air." I agree, sir. As writers, we all have some talent to write. We just have to take our ideas, be disciplined, and make them a reality. Lets face it, thats the only way its going to happen. Go team!