Open your Eyes

Where do you get your ideas? That's a strange question, because it appears to assume a single source of ideas. I really don't think there is one. I think inspiration for writing or any other creative endeavor comes in many different shapes and it keeps no schedule. Sometimes it's clear and in your face, sometimes it creeps up on you  and pounces when you least expect.

Here's an example from personal experience. A few years ago while I was writing my first book, The Exiles Next Door, I had basically finished the thing...or so I thought. Then as I lay in bed one night, trying to get to sleep an idea seemed to drop out of nowhere. It was a simple line I'd heard a fellow classmate say in my Hebrew class in college that had stuck in my brain like popcorn kernels stick in your teeth. I couldn't get to sleep until I got up and wrote the idea down. It became an entire chapter of the book.

Sometimes inspiration develops like a diamond: slowly, over a long period of time. You see something like a billboard or somebody do something at the mall or whatever. You say to yourself, "I have no idea why, but that's important and I'm going to hold onto it until I figure out why." It's sort of like a grain of sand in an oyster which over time becomes a pearl.

Here's another example. My second book, The New Book of Acts, has a chapter which is based on a conversation between myself, my wife and another person in the first church I pastored in Michigan. We had this conversation where we talked about new churches and how some had picked non-traditional names. I wondered out loud if a new church could start and never pick a name. The idea met with opposition. it then became the basis for Chapter 3: A Church with no Name. But it took a while for that idea to take shape into a chapter.

The point is this: When it comes to ideas for creative projects ALWAYS keep your eyes OPEN. You never know when you're going to strike gold. Even the smallest, most seemingly insignificant incident can blossom into a core concept for a story, a chapter, a song, a scene, a play... anything.

Maybe keep a small pad of paper with you to jot down an idea. I've used this before. It can be helpful but its not necessary.

To read more of my writing:

sample/purchase ebooks: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/samwhittaker

Purchase print books: The New Book of Acts & The Exiles Next Door.

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