Circling past what we’ve done before is not always easy. There are only so many topics. Luckily, there are enough ideas under the sun to warm the day. It’s the approach that matters. How do we look at this subject differently than what we’ve done before? How do we broaden what we want to say? Or narrow it down? That’s why a lot of us writers specialize in something we’re interested in. Take my beauty posts for instance. I’ve always been interested in makeup, hair, and nails. But my post tries to go beyond that. I try to relate it to the writer at hand. Now, I know you might say: how can a makeup brush suggest anything in the writing field?

Well, it’s easy. Makeup brushes camouflage or wipe away the grit. We do that in a story don’t we? Hide certain elements? Push away the filth to bring something to the light? Start to expand your thoughts on things. They don’t have to be limited. Consider where a thought might lead. Maybe you like fishing. What about it do you like? Does going out in the early dawn, flashlight in hand, walking around that pond, careful of the snakes, bring to mind anything about your writing journey? I’m sure there’s a lot to write about there.

Just like farming a field, or drawing anime, or loading trucks. Everything has its benefits and its drawbacks. Relate what you like about it or what you don’t. How might a character approach each of those? Maybe they’re afraid of tractors. It might make for a pretty poor farmer, but that flaw could lead to some interesting hiccups in the day. Maybe drawing anime reminds them of the painting that used to haunt their childhood. A painting they dream about each night and that reveals secrets they forgot from yesterday. You can take any job really and do those tricks by the way. You don’t have to be a celebrity or a famous lawyer or secret agent just to get readers interested. Although, if you were, that would lead to a lot of knowledge you could wield.

People come from all walks of life. There’s a story in every one of them. I’d challenge anyone to say they’ve led a boring life. There’s always an interest somewhere. The time you lost your keys. When you got separated from your child at Sea World. The fright you had on a backroad in the middle of the night with a drunk driver. Always something. Reach for that experience. Pull it out and make it shine. You never know what someone will find interesting until you start poking around. It’s all about opening up. To yourself. To others.

Writing comes both from within and without. Within, where all the magic happens and without, where the research and facts kick in. You need both to grow a story. A thought becomes a possibility. That possibility starts to build up from research. Pretty soon, you have a full-blown premise to work off and you begin the framework of how you set up your stories. I like the beginning, middle, and end way of looking at things. It’s simple. To the point. And you can write as much or as little as you want in that outline to get everything going.

I do research to begin with a story but at a certain point, I do begin writing and then when needed, pull in more research. I might for instance, need to research a certain city or building. That can be done while writing the story. It may pause the work for a bit, but it doesn’t hold it up forever. And doing all your research beforehand doesn’t happen anyway. You always run into something else you need to look up while you’re writing. A last-minute turn of events or thought might lead you to have to research elephants or aircraft. It’s hard to say.

When I first started writing, Marrion Zimmer Bradley told me not to build stories of something that has gone before. I.E. Recycle fairytales, for instance. Come up with your own story. Shoot to make it a well-known fairytale. You can borrow ideas from other stories but make them your own. Don’t cheat the reader with what has come before. There are always new ways to look at things. New ways to discover things. You don’t need to repeat. You need to blow up the concept and try again.

Circling past what’s been done before can cause new growth as a writer. There are stories waiting to be found within us. Bring them to the light and release them. Stories build upon new ladders, new rungs of possibilities. Sure, you can begin with an idea that blossomed from another story but finding new ground is the way to go. You do this through research and sparks of imagination. Letting an idea gel and then considering it. Sooner or later, turning it just the right way, will springboard a story that takes hold.

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Two Drops of Ink: A Literary Blog