Saturday, April 7, 2012

G: Gushing Ideas

They're everywhere.  Ideas for plots, names for characters, scents and sensations inspiring description and scene. 

I did a little shopping earlier today and plenty of ideas gushed from the crowds of self-absorbed folks standing in line and wheeling their shopping cards with focused intent. In the toy section of the department store, I saw a little boy trying to convince his even younger brother to select a different toy so they wouldn't both have the same one.  But the little brother wanted to have the same as his big brother.  How many stories have started with a similar conflict but with bigger rewards than a toy at stake?

In another part of the store, a teenage girl and her mother discussed the padding of lack there of in the top of the bathing suits they were comparing.  Hmmm.  I'll skip that story.  But at the checkout, an older lady explained to the clerk, and held up the entire line, why the medicine her doctor prescribed wasn't helping her back.  The lonely lady set bags of candy and boxes of cheap plastic eggs on the counter, saying she wasn't sure how many of her grandchildren would visit her for Easter.  If I wrote her story, they would all show up.

Another military helicopter chopped its way through the cloudless sky.  It was the fourth helo I'd seen. I assume the nearby fort was having some weekend maneuvers.  But in the story ideas gushing forth, I imagined the choppers were the first sign of an impending invasion of ... was that tall heavily made up woman a human, or an alien in disguise?  No way was her hair a natural color.

What about the lady in the spirits store who was discussing the varying qualities of boxed wines with a store clerk? Can't say I know much about that one.  The large variety of locally made wine did catch my interest. Vineyards are not only the farm fields of the rich and well-known.  There are many small wine makers and they have such creative names for their wares.  There has to be a story behind some of their labels.

Outside my house, the neighbors are battling stiff breezes as they go about spring chores.  Someone has a mower running in the distance.  The man across the street rakes last year's leaves from his flower beds and everywhere is the scent of spring flowers and fresh greenery.  A new beginning for the land, a start of a journey in a story, across a land recently ravaged by floods and the snows of winter, now coming alive again.

So take this weekend, a holiday for many of us, and look around for the ideas gushing out of every day things.  Notice the people you encounter, smell the fresh-turned earth, listen to geese flying north and add those sights, sounds and everything else your senses send you into your writing.  Ideas are everywhere.

Did anything recently strike you as a great idea to put in your writing? Did anything particular make an impression of one of your senses other than sight?

23 comments:

Jane of JaneZworld said...

An interesting day in your neighbourhood
my posts are from my fictional writing of a trilogy I have under way
(no vampires, no wizards etc )
I found you through the
A-Z 2012 Challenge.
Here is my link.
http://www.astringofpearls.org/a-z-in-26-days/
I am JaneofAustralia
I have Google problems

Jessica L. Celaya said...

I love people watching. You can get story ideasor even just ideas for a character. Thanks for the post!

Rachel Schieffelbein said...

Great post! I'm impressed. I guess I need to pay more attention to the people around me. :)

jan said...

Thanks for this post, Susan...and the reminder to stop, look, and listen every day instead of pushing through it like a bulldozer on steroids!

Unknown said...

It's amazing what can inspire you once you stop and take time to notice.
I got an idea for a story seeing people tapping out rhythms while listening to their iPods, which was a little odd.


Jamie
Fellow A-Z bloggy buddy
Mithril Wisdom

M.J. Fifield said...

I love people watching. Most days, I think it only serves as a method of procrastination but once and a while, someone does something that causes me to pick up my pen and write.

Tonja said...

I love your post. I do the same thing when I'm out and about. Have a great weekend.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I haven't been people watching as much as I usually do, so nothing has jumped out lately.

As for the bathing suits, let's just say this skinny, elf-sized woman would certainly be looking for padded ones.

Sharon said...

Susan, great post and thanks so much for the mode to find inspiration! I'll try that today as I'm not thinking of a G word very quickly. Happy Easter!

Golden Eagle said...

I loved reading about your observations. There are definitely a lot of story ideas, if you look for them!

k~ said...

Came here by way of A-Z.

A-Z 2012 (#49) - Bloggit Write A-Z 2012 - Poetry
A-Z 2012 (#861) - Bloggit Write A-Z 2012 - Haiku

Cheryl Klarich said...

I was buying flowers and had a conversatin with the clerk about how our parents generation would never put flowers in a pickle jar when company was coming- they would lovingly get out the "good" vase...

Thanks for getting the creative everyday juices going!

Maria said...

People watching is great fun. The oddest moments give us the best ideas

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I really notice characters at sporting events.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Alex, those sporting events can really bring out some interesting characters.
I guess lots of us are people watchers. If only all those people knew they could end up in our books.

Lynn Proctor said...

oh so identify with all that you said---life and stories and just plain old entertainment is all around us isn't it!

Anonymous said...

Lots of inspiration all around you. I hope you keep a notebook or index card file of these ideas! If I let myself and my mind drift, I can see these around me too ... but I find it hard to keep track of them and keep them corralled enough that they don't distract me. I guess I NEED that notebook or card file, huh?

David M. Brown said...

Inspiration is everywhere. I always forget to have a pen and paper with me when ideas come to me. I usually have to save texts or emails otherwise I'd forget. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of the challenge :)

Melissa Sugar said...

You had a lot going on around you today. I love people watching. husband gets so embarrassed but I tell him that they are so caught up in their own worlds that they don't know I am eavesdropping.

Sarah Tokeley said...

I get a lot of my stories from the news. I can't help it, people do the weirdest things :-)

Anonymous said...

I people watch. That's why I wear sun glasses hahaha. Observation is a great source of inspiration.

Anonymous said...

]I tend to get wrapped up in my own little head and am not very observant about things - but this is a lovely reminder that there's so much inspiration to be found everywhere! Love all your personal observations, thanks for sharing!

Christine said...

I like to people watch, and I often get ideas for characters that way. But you seem much more observant than I am!

Great post! I'm stopping by from A -Z.

Christine
Coffee in the Garden
In the Care of the Great Physician