I have no new ideas.
None.
No plan. No flashes of inspiration. No idea where to find an idea.
This is not a new dilemma for me.
The longer I’ve been writing, the more successful I’ve gotten, the harder it becomes to find those ideas that get me excited. Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t it get easier with experience?
For me, it hasn’t. But that hasn’t stopped me from writing. (After all, this is the sweetest job on earth – not only do I get to create something from nothing, a lot of the time that I’m working, I’m in my jammies in my bed.) So, what’s a girl to do? How do you pull a good idea out of the air?
I don’t really know. But Tara invited me to blog so I thought I’d give y’all some possible places to start.
Look for Nuggets, not Multitudes
Everyone knows you can’t just sit down to write a picture book about a chicken and think that’s all the brainstorming you need to do to run with it. Just “chicken” is too generic, too common, too…uninspired. But what if that’s all you have? Don’t you need a complete plot, a big idea…a whole roaster, so to speak?
Let the chicken be your nugget, no pun intended, and build from there. (And who am I kidding? I totally intended the pun. See below. I don’t stop with the puns.)
I started with a chicken nugget once. I hadn’t written a chicken book. Chickens are adorable. Instant winner.
But I quickly realized that I needed more. For someone to give a cluck about my chicken book, I needed to add some garnish. So I started thinking about chickens and what they do. Eventually, I brainstormed about chicks – but there were so many chick books already. Baby chicks, fluffy chicks, chicks and salsa…the list went on and on. All these chicks in all these books, all running wild…
And then it hit me. CHICKS RUN WILD.
I took my nugget and grew it to a title. And from there, I…well, ran wild with it. Now, let’s be honest, I took this title and then did what writers all over the world do every day: I wrote about what I knew. CHICKS RUN WILD grew into the story of little chicks at bedtime who don’t want to go to sleep quite yet—it could be an autobiography of bedtime with my own children. So, easily, I could advise you to take inspiration from your life—but you get that everywhere, don’t you? Besides, my point is I only got to writing about what I knew after starting with a small nugget of inspiration. I nurtured that nugget and kept it warm and safe until it grew into a fully formed…idea.
What’s in a Name?
OK, let’s shift gears. No more chicken puns. Let’s talk names instead.
Is there anything more immediately suggestive than a character’s name? Think Willy Wonka, or Shrek, or Fancy Nancy—just the names create an image in the reader’s mind. Characters can grow to be iconic – if developed correctly. But you certainly can’t know ahead of time which of your characters will become iconic.
That doesn’t mean you can’t start with character.
The truth is, I think the best place to start is character. When you have an idea for a great character, you need to let him run free (run wild, perhaps?) even before you figure out exactly what that character will do in the story. A strong character will find his story.
Years ago, I wanted to write a story about a vampire pig named HAMPIRE. A pig with fangs and a Dracula cape. Preferably a vegetarian. But that’s all I knew about him.
It took years—YEARS—to find his story. For a long time, I didn’t have a story for Hampire—but he lingered in my thoughts, waiting for me to figure him out. I had dreams about him, I had nightmares about him—and I wrote draft after draft about him. In the end, he still had fangs, still wore a cape, was still a vegetarian—but everything else about him changed many, many times. And that was OK.
Be Patient
I probably haven’t told you anything here that you didn’t already know, and there’s certainly not anything earth shattering in looking for inspiration as small as a title or a character. But what I want to leave you with is the most important idea about ideas of all:
Be patient.
You can’t force a good idea. You can’t coerce your brain into generating a good idea, nor can you keep working at a bad idea to turn it into a good idea. And, honestly, the more you try to force yourself, the harder it gets to tell the difference between the good ideas and the truly horribly awful ones.
So, be patient. Work on ideas you have, and don’t be afraid to heavily edit as you’re writing. In fact, don’t be afraid of crumpling up a lot of paper and tossing things into the trash—sometimes, the best way to find a great idea is to sort through and dispose of all the bad ideas around it.
I won’t lie to you and say that after dispensing all this advice, I was hit by inspiration and walked away with a great new idea to work on. I didn’t. I still don’t have any ideas for my next picture book. But I also know that when the idea does come, it like won’t be accompanied by a flash of lightning and a gospel choir. It will come from a word, or a phrase, or an image that strikes me and lingers. And that’s where the work begins.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is the author of many, many books for children, ranging from fourteen picture books to over a dozen nonfiction books for young readers. Her picture book Quackenstein Hatches a Family was selected for the California Readers 2011 Book Collections for School Libraries. Ballots for Belva was named to the 2009 Amelia Bloomer List and received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award in 2008 and Tightrope Poppy, the High-Wire Pig was named one of the Best Children’s Books of the Year in 2007 by the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street. Flying Eagle was a National Science Teachers Association Outstanding Science Trade Book selection for Students K–12 in 2010 and was named one of the Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year in 2010. Her science book, Nature Science Experiments, was named a finalist for the 2011 AAAS/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books. And her books Chicks Run Wild and Hampire! are her personal favorites, and just fabulous.
Sudipta speaks at conferences, educator events, and schools across the country, teaching the craft of writing to children and adults. She lives outside Philadelphia with her three children and an imaginary pony named Penny. Learn more about her and her books at www.sudipta.com.
66 comments
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November 9, 2011 at 8:54 am
Corey Schwartz
Oh, soooooooooo true!
November 9, 2011 at 9:04 am
Pat Haapaniemi
You nailed it! What a terrific post!
November 9, 2011 at 9:06 am
Denise M. Bruce (@DeniseBruce22)
Love this, Sudipta 🙂 I do have characters, but have let them sit when I couldn’t get the story to go with them. I’m going to start writing down the characters now… they are just as important as plots now!
thank you 🙂
Love,
Denise of Ingleside
November 9, 2011 at 9:11 am
Cathy C. Hall
I was sure Sudipta was going to say “sometimes, you just lay an egg of an idea.”
Or maybe that’s just me. 😉
November 9, 2011 at 6:07 pm
sudiptabq
Oh, Cathy, the puns I left out would make you squawk!
November 9, 2011 at 9:13 am
tinamcho
Thanks for sharing how you run WILD with your ideas! Can’t wait to let my ideas run! And I enjoyed browsing your web site!
November 9, 2011 at 9:18 am
Marcie Colleen
Well said. I usually find inspiration in the craziest places, but after writing it down it could “simmer and sautee” in my head for possibly years before it finally tells me its ready to be written. Therefore, I have been using PiBoIdMo as a way of generating these ideas in hopes that maybe someday they will be ready. You never know. Patience is so important. Thanks!
November 9, 2011 at 9:31 am
aneducationinbooks
Ms. Bardhan-Quallen, your post is wonderfully honest and bold. Thank you.
November 9, 2011 at 9:37 am
Wendy Greenley
Thanks for the post, Sudipta. I attended one of your NJ SCBWI workshops and never got to thank you properly for that either, so double thanks!
November 9, 2011 at 6:08 pm
sudiptabq
I remember you, Wendy! Thanks for stopping by!
November 9, 2011 at 9:47 am
beckylevine
Wonderful post. I’m counting on some of these nuggets growing over time…with thought! Thanks for the reassurance it can happen. 🙂
November 9, 2011 at 9:49 am
Catherine Johnson
Wonderful post and great puns! Your books sound delightful. That sounds like a familiar process to me which is very reassuring, thanks.
November 9, 2011 at 9:50 am
angelapenadahle
♥ This post really made me think. This is usually how things happen for me. I have never sat back and evaluated how I come up with my ideas, but this is pretty close compared to all the other gazillion ways it can happen. I usually begin with amazing characters, or words-generic as they come. Brainstorming is so dull that sometimes we don’t realize its brilliance until we trip right over it. Other times we are in love with the brilliance of brainstorming–and impatient for ideas–that we take forever to notice the best ideas when they come around. I hope I’m making some sense here. LOL. 🙂 GREAT POST! Hampire sounds wonderful. It is on my TBR list now!
November 9, 2011 at 9:55 am
Janet O'Neil
Thanks for this post! I’m not going to worry so much that some of my ideas don’t seem to be fleshed out enough.
November 9, 2011 at 9:57 am
Kathleen Cornell Berman
Thanks for your post. Focusing on character development first is a wonderful way to create a strong voice. After all, the best stories are the ones with characters the kids can relate to and fall in love with.
November 9, 2011 at 9:58 am
Jarm Del Boccio
Sudipta, this was a reassuring post. I appreciate your honesty in revealing the length of time it took you to come up with a completed manuscript. I have a few PBs running wild in my mind…now I need time away from my hectic schedule to corral those ideas and bring them under submission! Patience is the key…thanks for your reminder of that fact…
November 9, 2011 at 10:01 am
Diandra Mae
I think learning to be patient and allowing ideas to simmer and grow with time is one of the most important lesson I’ve learned over the last few years. It’s so much more satisfying when an idea can fulfill its potential instead of being rushed. 🙂 Wonderful post, Sudipta!
November 9, 2011 at 10:04 am
clarbojahn
I have been reading about how many authors find ideas for Picture books in all sorts of places and I’ll add this to the list. Great post, Sudipta. Your books sound fabulous and I’ll definitely look them up in the library to read.
Thanks for this post.
November 9, 2011 at 10:07 am
elizabethannewrites
Excellent advice. In PiBoIdMo, I think that sometimes we can get desperate to churn out those 30 ideas, and we try to force our brains into overdrive. Thanks for reminding us to be patient. That’s something I really need to learn.
November 9, 2011 at 10:09 am
Michelle Teacress
I’m feeling very encouraged by your post because my brainstorming method has been to take two very different items and somehow combine them, not unlike Chicks Gone Wild, and Hampire. With a little patience, like you said, maybe I’ll get somewhere with it. Thanks for the post. I’m looking forward to checking out your PB’s. Have a good day.
November 9, 2011 at 10:19 am
sabrina
Thanks Sudipta for a great post. I think characters are great starting points, because they start from the heart. You start off with a character that you sorta KNOW (or at least you think so, until they turn out to have their own strong will…. ) and like and it helps you to write a story with a real soul.
November 9, 2011 at 10:33 am
Renee LaTulippe
Back in the day when I was an actress, I couldn’t even think of starting rehearsals until I found the character’s shoes. I always had to build up from the shoes. Now that I’m a children’s writer, I still find myself looking for a small detail from which to build a story. Sometimes it’s a word, often it’s a character name, and once in a while it may even be the shoes (or hooves or paws).
Beautiful post, Sudipta. Love your sense of humor.
November 9, 2011 at 10:35 am
Joyce Ray
Sudipta, thanks for your post. I need to think more about characters instead of just general ideas. I checked out your website and loved your essay about the messages in the song “The Gambler” as applied to publishing.
November 9, 2011 at 11:09 am
Christie Wild
I love puns, so pun away! They are often among my favorite pb’s. I’m currently in the same boat that you were in when you were being patient with Hampire. I must be patient, too. Titles often hit me as nuggets for ideas. Thanks for sharing your process!
November 9, 2011 at 11:17 am
LadyInRead
Your line ‘You can’t coerce your brain into generating a good idea, nor can you keep working at a bad idea to turn it into a good idea.’ certainly rings true for me..I am going to be patient… And loved the Ten Commandments on your site.. thanks!
November 9, 2011 at 11:31 am
Dana Carey
I want you to know I copied the paragraph that starts with “The truth is…” into my notebook (with proper quotation marks and citing the author) because, well, it’s a golden nugget. I’m going to go with characters for awhile and see where they take me. Thanks, Sudipta!
November 9, 2011 at 6:09 pm
sudiptabq
Only authors would make it clear that they write themselves notes with proper citations! Love it!!
November 9, 2011 at 11:40 am
Lori Alexander
Great advice. I’m always coming up with clever titles and no story to back them up. Instead of deleting them from my list, I’ll let them simmer. Thanks Sudipta!
November 9, 2011 at 11:50 am
Deb Marshall
Great stuff! Have faith in the chicken nugget, be patient with the pork…the ideas will grow. Thanks so much for sharing…I sometimes find I forget to return to old ideas and see if they’ver developed!
November 9, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Tammi Sauer
Oh, how I want the flash of lightning and the gospel choir..! And, while we’re add it, let’s add cute shoes and some frozen Milky Ways. For me, coming up with a great idea, not just an okay or even a really good idea, is the absolute hardest part of the whole writing process. In a pile of 30 ideas, MAYBE one of mine has the potential to really become something.
November 9, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Joanna
Thank you, I needed this. I think it’s easy to have unrealistic expectations, especially in an PiBoIdMo month!
November 9, 2011 at 12:11 pm
ddhearn
This was so realistic and helpful. I have had an experience of a complete story coming to me in a flash, but also having a title sit with me for five years before the story finally made its appearance. We can encourage our muses, but we can’t arm wrestle them.
November 9, 2011 at 12:25 pm
patientdreamer
Thankyou for such a lovely post. I am so pleased to read this. I was patiently waiting for an idea to strike and as one day lead into another, panic started to set in. But this morning I have two new ideas from the most unexpected places…..
So thankyou for reassuring me.
November 9, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Carrie F
Thanks for this post. As someone who’s not overflowing with ideas, it really resonated with me. I totally agree with what you said about nuggets, and about characters. For me, an idea usually starts with something as small as a phrase, and grows from there. I love that PiBoIdMo is helping me to capture those nuggets…even to take more notice of them in the first place.
November 9, 2011 at 1:02 pm
angela de groot
Love the puns and the vegetarian vampire pig.
November 9, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Tamson
Some really important guidance, Sudipta. It’s good to demystify the processa like this.
November 9, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Betsy Devany
Honest advice from the heart. Effective and Betsy inspiring. Thanks!
November 9, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Betsy Devany
Sorry, working only with a cell phone. My name should have been at the end. Betsy
November 9, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Stephanie Shaw
There is something so comforting in knowing that successful writers like you, Sudipta, nurture the little ideas until they hatch. Then there’s always the question of “duckling or swan?” — but that’s another story. Thanks for another great blog!
November 9, 2011 at 6:10 pm
sudiptabq
“Duckling or swan?” — man, I’d take either!! Both are cute!
November 9, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Jennifer Noel Bower
Awesome, AWESOME post. I loved the puns and the breathless whimsy of the delivery. This was a breath of new life into some long held titles, names and story ideas gracing my moleskine. Thanks for this wonderful insight.
November 9, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Marcy P.
Thanks for the honesty. That’s the point I’ve rested on lately- you just can’t force a good idea (or even a bad one sometimes). And that’s okay! They’ll come. The thing I’m working on is being able to catch and cage them while they are flittering by. If I wait to long to jot them down- they are gone, just as silently and quickly as they came. Ah yes, patience. And perhaps my PiBoIdMo for the day! LOL
November 9, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Mindy Alyse Weiss
Thanks for the great post, Sudipta. It really is amazing how long it can take to whip a manuscript into shape once you write one from a nugget of an idea. I keep thinking that I’ll be able to get mine submission-ready faster the more I do this, and am still amazed at how long it takes.
I hope you find the nugget for your next book sometime this month. 🙂
November 9, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Mona Pease
Thanks for your post Sudipta and for hanging around with us!
You are an inspiration. I dug out your conference notes and have them beside me to help structure the pb I’ve been working on.
and to the rest of the PioIdMo-s if you ever get a chance to attend one of Sudipta’s workshops, do it! She’s a great teacher!
November 9, 2011 at 6:11 pm
sudiptabq
Oh, Mona, you are too good to me. Do go on…. 🙂
November 9, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Lori Mozdzierz
Thanks, Sudipta, for the affirmation that character first can work!
One of my strongest PiBoIdMo ideas came just that way 😀
Super post!!
November 9, 2011 at 6:06 pm
sudiptabq
I’m overwhelmed by all your responses! Thank you!
Sudipta
November 9, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Kelly Korenek
Thank you, Sudipta, for your thoughtful advice. My students will absolutely love Hampire!!! I can’t wait to order it for the library. I cannot begin to tell you how many times the younger kids ask me for “scary” books and I come up empty-handed. Genius!!
November 9, 2011 at 7:10 pm
ALGERNON MICHAEL ROARK
You are correct, ideas can take a very long time to develop into beautiful stories. This is a great post!
November 9, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Julie
Great post and I LOVE Hampire!! I often get a title or a character first. It’s frustrating when I struggle to find the story to go along with it, but it’s good to know I’m not alone and that just noodling on it over time, maybe the story will reveal itself.
November 9, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Lori Grusin Degman
Thanks for the great post, Sudipta! I’m a sucker for a pun – good or bad – Love the chicken nugget 🙂
November 10, 2011 at 12:03 am
Lynn
I found your post to be comforting as I’m struggling with writing this time around. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us.
November 10, 2011 at 4:04 am
Loni Edwards
Great advice! Thank you so much, Sudipta!
November 10, 2011 at 6:13 am
Helen Ross
Hi Sudipta. Love the chicken nugget pun. And excellent advice mixed with humour.
And Tara, you have lined up excellent inspirational children’s book authors. I am having a ball during PiBoIdMo. Helen
November 10, 2011 at 7:43 am
thiskidreviewsbooks
Hampire is cool! I learned that you should start with a small idea, and add on to it and enhance it to make a big idea)!
Erik
🙂 🙂
November 10, 2011 at 10:32 am
julesmae
Haha, “Chickens are adorable.” I’ve raised chickens and they are UGLY!!!!! But chicks are dang cute, absolutely. I’ll give you that.
Great post. I enjoyed reading it. I love to work in my jammies, too.
November 10, 2011 at 10:44 am
Sheri Larsen
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. So comforting!!
November 10, 2011 at 8:59 pm
Janet
Great post. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge of the PB world of writing.
November 11, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Lisa L. Owens
I so agree with you — thanks for posting! You can’t always force the ideas, and sometimes just a single word, phrase, or concept seems small but can lead to the biggest fleshed out stories of your life.
November 11, 2011 at 5:00 pm
sketched out
I love the idea of nuggets. That’s mostly what I’ve been getting during this challenge and I feel so validated. Also, thanks so much for reminding me to be patient. But the best advice of all was to let a character drive the story. Characters come easily to me but not necessarily stories. So I plan on interviewing some of my characters and find out what their story is.
Thanks for a great post!
November 11, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Lynda Shoup
Fabulous post! I think I found at least 3 separate nuggets of wisdom that really enhanced how I think about teasing the ideas out. Thanks for the inspiration.
November 11, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Beth MacKinney
Thanks for sharing, Sudipta. I like to start with wacky names when I write. Then the characters take me along for the ride. : )
November 12, 2011 at 7:38 pm
Jessica Young
Thanks for letting us in on your process. Sometimes it’s good to hear that other writers struggle with the same things and emerge victorious!
November 14, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Brook Gideon
Sudipta,
Thank you for sharing your process for idea storming! Phrases hit me all the time and I have to remember to write them down!
November 15, 2011 at 8:47 am
Juliet Clare Bell
Thanks for the post. Really useful -and so true. I love names in books. The name of my next picture book heroine came from a misread advert that came through our door. And I’m going to steal one of my characters from a pb manuscript that hasn’t been picked up and write a completely different story for him -mainly because I love his name.
(And thanks for inspiring one of my favourite pb ideas of the month so far.)
Clare.
November 15, 2011 at 10:50 am
Kerry Aradhya
I like your advice to be patient. I’ve had an idea for a character for a really really long time, but her story just hasn’t come to me yet. You have given me the inspiration to just let her be for now…and hopefully the story will come one day when I least expect it. Thanks, Sudipta!