Friday, September 17, 2010

Creativity

"Ugh!" Erica grunted as she smacked her keyboard and buried her head in her hands. "Why? Why can't I think of anything? My editor wants an idea by tomorrow and I have nothing. Nothing."

"You're trying too hard," her cousin (and biggest fan) Josh replied. "Just look around. Randomly open a dictionary or something. You're a good writer; you'll figure something out."

Erica sighed. She had published her first book six months ago, to fantastic reviews and books flying off the shelves. Her editor, Susan, had loved Land of the Free? from the beginning, and was expecting an idea of the same caliber for Erica's next book.

Unfortunately, her creative process seemed to be on strike.

"If I'm such a great writer, why am I having such difficulty with this?" she mumbled into her palms. "I should be able to get inspiration from all kinds of different things. Life in general. Orange highlighters, zebras, an insurance commercial, whatever."

"Just take a break," Josh advised. "It's not tomorrow for another four hours."

"Break. Hmm." The wheels of Erica's mind started to turn, gaining speed quickly. She started typing like a madwoman, smiling slightly to herself as she whispered her new idea into the air.

"Is it good or bad that the only story idea I can come up with is my utter lack of ideas right now?" Elphaba.

4 comments:

Met said...

That's a very good thing in my opinion. This is how you salvage a posting day and it's often how great ideas get started. I love your writing Elphaba, keep at it. I think you should write some Conversations posts. You'd be well suited to it if you feel like doing it. Honestly, I think you did a great job salvaging your posting day and turning it into something interesting for me. Thank you.

Elphaba said...

Thank you, Met! :D

Elphaba said...

Was my exposition better this time?

Reogan said...

The real problem with your stories is the lack of substance. They're all quantum events; they mean nothing a minute before or after taking place. You should make a longer ordeal. Then you can really use exposition.

But better, yes.