# Ideas!



## Nargle (Aug 24, 2008)

I've been wanting to write something for a long time. And I'm not _bad_ at writing or anything... I've made some relatively decent lengthy RP posts. 

It's just... I can never think of anything worth writing. I'll come up with something really cool, and I'll start planning it out.. but within a matter of days, even hours in some instances, I soon begin to despise my idea. I'm EXTREMELY picky, even when reading other people's stories. Too cheesy, too unoriginal, too controversial (BTW, I don't have anything against controversy, it's just that one time I had an idea, but in the story there was a relationship between a male student and a female teacher. The more I thought about it, the more I became repulsed by the idea, not because it's bad, but because I didn't want to write it.)

So how can you guys think of an idea and stick to it? Is it that I'm just coming up with bad ideas? Or do I just need to give my ideas a chance and endure a few blunders every once in a while?


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## Shouden (Aug 24, 2008)

"Get messy, make mistakes" is the ever famous quote of the teacher from the Magic School Bus  series. I think that is always a good lesson. I would say, if you have an idea, write it out, and get it going. If you don't like it after you read through the final version (or half way through it) then you can toss it. I have started many projects without finishing them. I have even had some cool ideas and started  working on them, only to realize that I wasn't nearly into the idea as I once thought.

Thomas Eddison once said, "Success is 95% hardwork..." Every successful writer or artist has had countless failures. The important thing isn't that you failed, but what you learn from your mistakes and failures. And sometimes the creative juice tube can get a little back up and it does some good to get some ideas out of the way to get them flowing again.

Also, remember, writing a story is like sculpting a statue or drawing a picture. It's a lot of work and it takes a lot of going over and adding more and more detail, or taking out and changing things, and the smoothing out of rough edges before the  final product is  finished. I know I have started something and then like the general idea, but just ended up writing it again in a different way.

Failure is part of the job description when it comes to art, whatever kind  it maybe.


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## Nargle (Aug 24, 2008)

Thank you, Shouden, that's some excellent advice =3


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## Shouden (Aug 24, 2008)

you are always welcome, Nargle.


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## Frasque (Aug 25, 2008)

That happens to me a lot, but if I never wrote an idea I had second thoughts about, I'd never write anything. Usually I'll keep ideas in a notebook and look at them a few days or even weeks later to see if they still interest me. 

Otherwise, you're just going to have to force yourself to grit your teeth and get stuff down on paper. Maybe reward yourself with a handful of jelly beans for every 1,000 words you get done, or something?


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## M. LeRenard (Aug 25, 2008)

I would suggest writing out an entire rough draft of your idea, and then fixing all of the parts that you find "too cheesy, too unoriginal, too controversial".  Rough drafts are meant to be fixed, so that's exactly what you would be doing.  Even if it meant a total rewrite (which is sometimes required).  But if you don't always toss the idea as a whole, and instead toss just the aspects of it you find yourself not liking, you should eventually get something done.  You can't miss 100% of the time, is what I'm saying.


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## Nargle (Aug 25, 2008)

Frasque- Oh my gosh, I love jelly beans =D

Renard- That's a very good strategy! Maybe all my bad ideas have good aspects, and I can go back and correct the bad later! =3 Just to give the good bits a shot?


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## kitreshawn (Aug 27, 2008)

Just start writing down your story and don't worry how silly or stupid it sounds first time through.  The real work starts during editing.  Writing is really about re-writing.

And you cannot edit a blank page.


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## Vagabond (Aug 28, 2008)

Not that this is new advice in this thread, but yes I'd say the most important thing is getting something, if anything, written down.
Let your mind wander when you get the chance, and carry a notepad.
I'm not a terribly creative individual, so I started a dream journal. Lots of bizarre and unusable things, but the occasional interesting world or situation I doubt I could have come up in the waking realm.
If you do my method, just be certain you keep track of your suspected influences of the dream, as you've seen/read/heard it all somewhere before. It's rather irritating to waste a good portion of your free time to realize that its been done already.

For your particular story idea, that actually happens quite often (though male teacher and female student). If you can find, and get them to agree, try to interview some teachers/students that have been in that ordeal.
If your to stray away from anything, it's art based off something you've never even experienced yourself.


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