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Where do ideas come from?
Imagination, you say. Sure, but what fires the imagination?
A comment.
An experience.
A dream.
A news report.
A pet's adoring gaze.
A piece of driftwood.
Free-association.
And, rarely, a bolt from the blue. An image, a thought or a
sensation that smacks your conscious mind with "Hey, listen
up!" urgency.
However and whenever a story idea strikes, treat it as a gift,
because that's what it is. Respect it. Nurture it. Invite it to
expand and carry you forward, upward, and even into a realm you
may never have considered.
Paranormal subjects cover the earth and extend past the stars.
Time-travel. ESP. Ghosts. Otherworldly creatures such as goblins,
fairies, werewolves, monsters and shape-shifters.
If you have never written a story with paranormal elements, but
are interested in such a project, begin with a visit to the
library.
Go to the parapsychology and metaphysics sections where you
will discover various telepathic techniques, mystical revelations,
and experts on every subject. Psychics who describe
attuning themselves to the delicate vibrations of spirit
messengers. Dowsers who sense the presence of underground rivers
through forked willow sticks. Palmists. Crystal ball gazers. Ghost
hunters. Tarot card designs, layouts and interpretations.
You will also find volumes of historical folklore and novels
featuring vampires, mermaids, elves and other mythic creatures.
Let your fingers (and intuition) walk the spines of such books
until a title piques your interest. Gather an armload of such
books and spend an evening perusing them. Some you may dismiss as
silly; while others may draw you into their stories, their lore,
their possibilities.
Even such light research will give you confidence and further
stimulate your imagination. Let it roam...and watch for the
reinforcement of synchronous events, indicating that you are on
the springboard of your story.
You can gain plot mileage by considering the reactions of normal
characters to paranormal characters and/or events. For example,
the regular folks might be in denial, ignoring the obvious
physical differences of the alien creature dropped into their
midst, or offering such rationalization as "his mother
must've taken drugs when she was pregnant."
Do not allow yourself to be imprisoned by the paranormal
boundaries set by other writers. Develop your own guidelines for
the possible and impossible in your story. Just be
consistent. Keep a copy of your rules handy, and remain
faithful to them. For example, some ghosts appear able to move
physical objects, while others cannot. Most story ghosts readily
pass through solid objects, but perhaps your ghost had drowned and
now assumes she cannot move through water.
In a time-travel story the protagonist should not linger in
disbelief of the setting; he has to accept his displacement in
time for the story to progress. While your method of
transportation-through-time will be unique to your story, the more
logical you can make it the seem, the better the
story will work. For example, if your character dives into a
mountain lake in 2004, and emerges from the same lake in 1790, the
physical transition makes fictional sense.
Magical beings, supernatural powers, and extraordinary gifts
may assist your hero, but such advantages should not overwhelm the
everyday folks in your story. Any hero must struggle and overcome
great obstacles–perhaps physical, certainly mental and
emotional--to achieve his goal, or there is no story.
If you can imagine such a story, you can write it, and your
future writing will be all the richer for the experience.
©2005 C. J. Winters
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