Posted by on Jul 7, 2006 in Uncategorised | 3 Comments

Found Stories

I’m always a bit surprised when writers tell me they can’t think of anything to write about. My problem is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day! Yesterday, for example, standing in the post office queue with my little pile of sample chapters to send to agents (cross your fingers please, for me!) I watched a woman terrorising her toddler with threats to leave her in the shop. Got to be a story in that, I thought.

The older woman in front of me in the queue murmured, ‘Patience is a virtue.’ I nodded. After a few seconds she turned to me again and said, ‘Do you know the whole saying?’ I didn’t. Bet you didn’t either:

Patience is a virtue,
Try it if you can.
Rarely seen in woman,
Never in a man.

I walked home trying to decide whether to start with the story about the differences between male and female patience, or whether it would be best to write about a woman who makes patience into a virtue but by being patient actually turns it into a vice, or whether I should start with a non-fiction proposal to a writing journal about the forgotten lines in common sayings and proverbs … Four writing ideas from the post office queue.

Writers who can’t think of anything to write about aren’t using their eyes and ears, let alone their imagination.

3 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    14th August 2006

    Speaking as a writer often stuck for things to write about:

    What you’ve described is an episode or an event: not a story. Stories have beginnings, middles, endings, developments in character. Yes, it’s true, I’m inundated with episodes like the one you describe and from time to time I’ll examine such an episode for its possibilities as a work of fiction. But unless I can see in my mind how that episode could lend itself to further developments, it’s useless to me as a story idea.

    From your view, writers who can’t think of anything to write about aren’t using their eyes and ears, etc. But from my view, writers who are overwhelmed with story ideas simply aren’t being selective enough. There’s already too much fiction in the world. Is your story idea *really* good enough to contribute to that sum total? Maybe you should wait to have an idea that really sings.

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  2. Kay Sexton
    14th August 2006

    Well, to be honest, I think you’re talking about the craft of turning inspiration into good writing and that comes from hard work alone, not from outside the writer. The spark of an idea can come from outside and often should; there are too many angsty stories about first love break-ups out there in the slush piles, believe me.

    As for whether my stories are really good enough, ask the editors who’ve published over ninety of them so far, not me!

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  3. Anonymous
    17th August 2006

    I’ve been published many times, too. That’s not the issue. I’m sure we both know that getting a story published is no measure of its quality.

    When I’m trying to conure a worthy story idea, I’ll consider episodes like the one you describe, among other things. However, none of those considerations are: Can I get an editor to publish a story based on this idea? Such a thought is meaningless. Instead, I’m judging the story idea by an internal yardstick: Does the idea sing to me? Do I see developments in this idea that (a) I haven’t seen in other people’s fiction; (b) that would be rewarding for me to spend time turning into fiction; and (c) I may be able to turn into a story with a beginning, middle, and end?
    These are simple criteria, but they do sometimes limit my working story ideas to zero. I’ve gone for months without worthy ideas.

    I’m writing to you not to criticize you or your work (I haven’t read any of your fiction), but merely because I found your comment about writers without ideas somewhat harsh and insulting; they seemed to stem from an ignorance I hoped I could remedy. I am a writer, and I often can’t think of anything to write about. But I do indeed have eyes, ears, and an imagination and I’m using them constantly. For me to lack an idea is not a failure of effort on my part, and for you to be overwhelmed with ideas is by extension no success. Probably it just suggests that you are more easily pleased with ideas I would discard as banal or uninvolving. To each his own, no?

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