Monday, August 15, 2011

How Long Does Your Passion Hang Around?

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” ~ Orson Scott Card

Novel ideas are everywhere. But I can't grab one and immediately start writing. An idea for a novel has to flop around in my head for awhile until it catches hold and takes root. I think about it constantly, trying names on my characters to see if they fit, getting to know them, and working out scenes and plot points. 

Still, I agree with Orson Scott Card's quote. NF ideas slam into me left and right when I listen to dialogue in a restaurant, or the pastor's sermon, or watch a TV show, but if I don't grab the idea and the passion that goes along with it and do something with it at that moment, then the idea doesn't speak to me the next week, the next day or even the next hour. My passion for it is gone. That's not to say I can't write the story or the article, but I have to drum up a new excitement for it. A lack of original passion makes the writing seem more like work.

 I wonder if this falls under the category of a mood writer or if everyone has this problem.

Comments?

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Stephen King said once that the ideas worth writing are the ones that hang around, that don't just pass through and away. I'm starting to think maybe he's right.

Unknown said...

I think Stephen King is right. If an idea won't let go, it might be worth writing about.