So here is my question I've been thinking about.
When you want to write a new story, how do you get ideas? What is your process for choosing one to actually go ahead and write?
I get my ideas from all over the place. Sometimes they just pop into my head randomly. In Pieces came from the song, the sequel to it (I originally wasn't going to write a sequel) came from a dream I had. Left and Leaving was largely based on my own life at the time, and so was The Best of Both Worlds. Running Up That Hill came to me while I was in the shower LOL. No idea why, it just did.
So when I get an idea like that I play around with it in my head a lot before I sit down and write. I'll go for walks and think about the story. And usually, I'll write a prologue or a first chapter before I even begin to outline to see if I'll actually enjoy writing the story. I had three chapters of Running Up That Hill completed before I even considered posting that or outlining it because it was so far out of my box that I wanted to make sure I'd be able to continue it.
Now, what I do after I write that first chapter is go into a blank word doc and type out all my ideas in bullet points. I should show you guys one of those docs, because they're a mess of ideas and random stuff with sarcastic comments thrown in because... just because. It's usually about a page long of just random jumbles, and from there, I try to take those ideas and sort them out into an outline that will eventually become the story. The sorting out is the worst part and I hate it. I hate outlining, but for me it's completely necessary otherwise I'll just drown in my ideas and sit there staring at word thinking 'where should I go from here?' I started writing one story, skipping my outlining process and just jumping straight into writing and it's a terrible idea. I need to go back and outline but I've already posted 4 chapters so I can't even go backwards. Ugh. Mistake! I don't even have inspiration to work on it now because I know I need to do the stupid outline.
Yup. That's my process lol
