Sunday, November 04, 2007

Drowning in New Ideas

While barely treading water in the swamp of editing, I am being deluged with ideas for new stories. I have thought up five new plots in the last three days alone. They're not just snippets, to go in the anecdotes file, but fully-fledged plots with characters, dialogue and satisfying endings.

Unfortunately, they have appeared to me at the most inconvenient moments (as though wallowing in a swamp of mucky grammar wasn't bad enough) and I've had to carry them round in my, already overwhelmed brain, until I could reach the computer.

Lunchtime today was a good example: I was just stirring the milk into some cheese sauce, when this great story-line appeared before me; the action danced before my eyes, and the dialogue sang in my ears (poetic, huh?). Now, I have a certain pride when it comes to making cheese sauce, so I had to wait until it was simmering before I could make a dash for the study, and get out as many words as possible (368) before the beeper went off.

Then, while we were eating lunch, I had an idea for a story about cheese sauce...

6 comments:

Jenny Beattie said...

Wow! I'm so impressed. I can't get this story out, let alone find zillions of other stories!
JJx

HelenMWalters said...

Brilliant - what dedication! And I can't wait to read the story about cheese sauce! x

Kath McGurl said...

You're on a roll, Leigh! And the best ideas always wait till the least convenient moment to appear. An occupational hazard. Just take care when driving!

Rebecca said...

I wish I had your plot-problem. I can barely think of plots...even when I'm in the middle of a book I'm often not sure what's happening.... mmmm

that sounds bad doesn't it!

Leigh Forbes said...

JJ - yeah, well getting them down on paper is another problem!

Helen - I can see it now: "Hey, everyone! Look out for this month's Whatever. It's got my cheese sauce story in it." I'll let you know!

Womagwriter - I try to. I sometimes find myself with no recollection of a journey. Usually, I'm in the right place, but not always!

Rebecca - yep, that does sound bad; but, hey, it's a great excuse to go and do something else!

Lane Mathias said...

Good lord - you are positively flowing:-)

Will your cheese sauce story contain macaroni...:-)

Seriously great that you are experiencing a flurry of ideas. Hope you can get them all down before the next timer goes off:-)