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I'm a big fan of J.D. Salinger's line "Sometimes the material finds the writer." This has happened to me on numerous occasions. I talk about it a lot with in my classes and I've written about it before.
Most of the time coming up with an idea is brute work. We're thinking hard or reading a story in the newspaper--and maybe putting a spin on it--or experiencing something that's dramatic or hearing about some funny/scary/weird thing that someone else experienced. However it happens, we latch on to an idea and run with it. Or at least try to run with it.
Then there are those ideas that come to us when we least expect it. It's as if we're meant to write this story. Even though it may be about a subject or area we know nothing about or never even thought about.
I think when these ideas come it's important to confront them and see where they take you. Will they be any easier to write than something that you struggled for months to nail down? Probably not. But they might introduce you into different waters than those you've been splashing around in. |
