On story ideas
So. I finally have what I think is a workable idea for my gen_remix story, and the panicked feeling has subsided somewhat. I'm taking a couple of days to bask in the satisfaction before I start tearing my hair out over the part where I realize I can't actually write it as well as it looks in my head. ;-) But it reminded me of something I've been meaning to post about.
When I first got into writing fanfiction, I was astonished by people who had lists of story ideas or dozens of unfinished stories on their hard drives. "That'll never be me," I thought, because I had enough trouble coming up with one good story idea at a time.
Well, I confess. I've now got more fic ideas than I can probably write in my lifetime. I get most of my ideas from crossovers and challenges, but I do get them now. (I'm still baffled by people who give their plot tribbles away, however; if I like the idea well enough to want it written, I almost always want to be the one writing it. It's not that I think I can do it better, but I want to try, you know? But I digress...) Still, when it comes to story requests and ficathons, I often struggle to find a workable solution to the request in time to get it written.
I've often read remarks by professional authors where they say that one of the most common questions they are asked is, "Where do you get your ideas?" And they invariably go on to say that the answer is, "Everywhere," and that the questioner is never satisfied with that response. Well, of course not. But in last month's SFBC flyer, there was a different sort of quote from fantasy author John Moore:
I have far more ideas for stories than I'll ever have time to write, but one thing I can't do is generate ideas on demand. An editor will email me with a request to contribute to an anthology: "We are now accepting submissions for Aardvarks in Space Vol. II. We're looking for fast-paced, cutting edge stories of no more than 7000 words relating to aardvarks and space travel. Are you interested?" And my answer is yes, I'm interested, but unless an aardvark story just happens to come to me, I can't contribute.
Except that once the idea is placed in my subconscious, it bubbles around until a story does burst forth. Alas, this invariably happens five days after the deadline is past.
I feel better now. At least, I will until the 'Jarriere as an aardvark farmer' idea pops up and appends itself to my list of fics to write.