Be Aware of Great Ideas

Brilliant ideas are around us all the time. The difference between a writer and everybody else is that a writer is aware of them. I was in a conversation that ended up talking about insects and the different names that people come up with for them. Somebody mentioned that the giant water bug is also known as the electric light beetle because they are attracted to street lamps at night. It was a fairly dull conversation on its own, except for one thing.

"The Electric Light Beetle" sounds like the name of an awesome nightclub. I had a scene flash all in the blink of an eye. A dark room, lighted all around by lines of blue neon lights. Hot music plays, pumping energy and life into the scene. The place is packed. The people on the dance floor are working themselves into a fervor. A woman picks up two drinks from the bar - one for her and one for whatever lucky man she picks out of the crowd.

With a scene so vivid and alive, there are countless stories that can be told. And all it required was taking one phrase out of context and thinking about other contexts for it. This is not an isolated incident either; it happens all the time.

Just today at work, I noticed a typo that said "mortocycle". Since mort- means death, it becomes a cool name for a daredevil. I could also put it into Spanish and call it the Muertocicleta. Now I have a character who enjoys both defying death and the Spanish language. That is definitely the beginnings of an interesting story.

Open your eyes and ears. Be willing to accept the strange, the bizarre, the wrong, and try to find a way to make them normal, regular, and right. That is one of the core principles of writing.