Have a Great Idea

 

"Where do your ideas come from?"

What a pure question! It’s a great one. A question like that is the beginning of everything. The greatest philosophers start here, with this one question. People have been arguing about it for centuries.
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It’s a question about thought. We’re all curious about that. We all look into our heads and wonder what’s going on in there, how it happens, whether it works the same way for other people as it does for us.

Of course, when someone asks a writer this, they’re thinking about it in terms of story. They’re asking, How did you come up with that? What made you think of it? What happened in your brain, to turn that wardrobe into a door? (And will this question be good enough, because my teacher told me I had to ask the writer something.)
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There’s a reason this is the first question that comes to mind when people talk to writers. It’s a simple way to open an old, mysterious box and find out what’s inside. 

See, we’re all curious about stories. The more we understand about them, the more we can make sense of the world, and ourselves. Stories are one of our oldest tools for making sense of things, organizing our ideas, and communicating. Stories change our minds. Stories are our minds.



Writers don’t know any more or less about how their minds work than you do. They come up with ideas just like you. They wonder what you wonder.

The only difference is, they might add an extra thought to the first one. And then another after that.
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So if you’re looking for ideas, look no farther than the things that make you the most curious. Start with those ‘What If?’ questions.

What if everyone but me turned invisible? What if that house is haunted? What if I stood up right now and shouted what I’m really feeling inside?
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Then follow where those questions lead. Listen to your own sense of wonder.
What story is it trying to tell you? 

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