Wednesday 25 July 2012

Lightbulb Moments on Dark Themes


Lightbulb Moments on Dark Themes

So where do the ideas come from?

It is a question I often get asked - as does every other writer. But for the writer of horror/supernatural stories the questioners are even more fascinated by how or why the ideas strike. The answer, of course is they come out of my imagination but they may have been sparked by something I have seen, heard or experienced. Or sometimes tiny nubs just appear from apparently nowhere… But I don’t believe they are apropos of nothing, they have just oozed up from my subconscious.

Perhaps I can give an example of how it worked for me with one project.

The original idea for my latest book “The Afterlife of Darkmares” came to me from apparently nothing?? I had been tossing around some occult-type ideas that might seem fairly believable when the thing suddenly presented itself. It was simply an image and I can still clearly remember the  ‘eureka’ feeling it gave me. The picture in my mind was of a 12 year old boy standing rigidly in a graveyard, hands by his sides, his glossy black hair - pageboy style -  gleaming in the sunlight.  His clothes were old fashioned – as if he’d stepped out of the pages of some 60’s magazine. He wore a buttoned up paisley shirt, a hand-knitted waistcoat and  smart black trousers.  There was something very off centre about him…

Where that image came from, I have no idea, but it must have arisen from something in my subconscious mind.. The scene was so vivid I used it as a jumping off point for my story. At that point I had no idea what my story would be about but I knew I had to use that scene somehow. The boy is called Grif and he is central to the story and the entire plot of the supernatural thriller “The Afterlife of Darkmares.”.  

I then used free writing to further explore and develop the idea.  As I did this and the plot began to identify itself I became more and more excited and enthused by my slowly ripening story. For me this is the best part of writing a book. The creating of the story!!.

So what is your favourite part of writing a story? Do you dream up ideas or characters first?

5 comments:

  1. I love the idea stage. I get so excited I can't sleep. The characters revel themselves to me as the story unfolds... I don't start with a clear picture of who they are... Then I have to go back and fill in the missing details.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hm, I usually get the idea, and then the characters start filtering into my head. I love that phase!

    ReplyDelete
  3. jeanette mason27 July 2012 at 14:21

    would love to read ur books x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like your lightbulb moments. For me, the best part of writing a story is writing it and ignoring the grammar and sentence structures. I usually come up with an idea, but it's never in dreams. My ideas usually come to me when I'm doing something and then BAM! I realize I have to make the idea come to life.

    My cousin recently finished my book and she asked me, how did you come up with it? I told her I'm a bit twisted. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love how your story began. The genesis of my ideas are pretty much different every time. Sometimes the characters come first, sometimes a single image, sometimes a scene, or a landscape or an object.

    ReplyDelete