{"id":3716,"date":"2014-10-27T13:45:50","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T02:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/?p=3716"},"modified":"2020-08-17T12:14:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T02:14:00","slug":"where-do-ideas-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allisontait.com\/2014\/10\/where-do-ideas-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do ideas come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"writing<\/a>“Where do you get your ideas?”<\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure that if you canvassed a group of authors this would be the<\/em> number one question that each and every one of them is asked. And it’s probably one of the most difficult to answer.<\/p>\n

As part of the preparation I’m doing for a series of author talks in schools, I’ve been putting together a writing workshop for kids on ‘Getting Started’, because I know that, for some kids, writing is torture. They’re given a blank sheet of paper and told to write a story on it. Most of the time, because teachers are awesome and clever people, there’s some kind of writing ‘prompt’ involved … but even that’s not enough in some cases.<\/p>\n

So where do you start when, really, you’d rather not start at all?<\/p>\n

When I talk to kids about this, I talk about how ideas are all around us. I discuss the fact that authors are not like super-magnets, attracting ideas out of the air like magic. Rather they are just people who’ve taught themselves to see the ideas that are there. I am always reminded of this quote by Orson Scott Card.<\/p>\n

“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\u2019t see any.”<\/p>\n

Of course, I don’t mention Orson to the kids. But we discuss how you can get inspiration for a story from what’s around you, from conversations you’ve had, from things you’ve seen, from places you’ve been. I talk about how they should use the things that they know in their stories – if they take ballet classes, ride dirt bikes, surf on the weekends, play soccer, that all of these things can be used in their stories.<\/p>\n

And then, I say, you need to ask yourself the single most important question a writer can ask: “What if?”<\/p>\n

Today I did a talk at a local primary school for grades 3-5. They asked me a million questions and had a thousand ideas between them when it came to thinking about character and setting and ‘problems’ (aka plot).<\/p>\n

It was inspirational.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I\u2019m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I\u2019m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can find out <\/em><\/strong>more about me here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and <\/em><\/strong>more about my books here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve also got an online creative writing course just for kids aged 9-14. Find out more about it here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Where do you get your ideas?” I’m pretty sure that if you canvassed a group of authors this would be the number one question that each and every one of them is asked. And it’s probably one of the most difficult to answer. 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