Writers, Writing and Good Short Story Ideas
The content of a writer’s story depends on the content of the writer’s life.
Image via Wikipedia
I know a lot about college students and drinking beer. I’ve been around college students and I’ve been a beer drinker all my adult life. College students and beer drinking appear often in my flash fiction. College students and beer drinking also appear often in my personal blog. The two are where I get a lot but not all of my inspiration as a writer. As far as I can tell, other writers draw inspiration from the content of their lives, too. How could it be any other way?
Literature, love, sexuality and money also play their part in the content of my life as they do in my fiction. Writers get their ideas from all sorts of places, some more lofty than others. That’s nothing new. This article is not about what is new but about what is very old.
This article is about the dynamic created by the intersection of writer, writing and inspiration and its impact on the work of an author.
Writer’s block can be a frightening thing. I’ve had it, sometimes for days. It keeps me awake. It can distract me all day. Sometimes the only thing that shuts down the wheels so that blissful sleep overtakes me is several beers. For me, writing and drinking are deeply related. But if I may offer a piece of advice to my brother and sister short story and flash fiction writers, don’t be concerned about writer’s block.
I’ve been writing for over 50 years. I haven’t run out of good short story ideas or ideas for articles yet. It’s because of that intersection of writer, writing and inspiration. The best cure for writer’s block is to keep living your life and to keep writing. The very process of living and writing guarantees that inspiration will strike. When it does you will have an idea that with a little luck and a lot of hard work and concentration could very well turn into your next short story.
Writer’s block, where is thy sting?
My blog is the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette
Liked it
Tags: advice, Blog, content, Flash fiction, good ideas, Life, short story, writer's block, Writers, Writing
Click the icon to the left to subscribe to Writinghood with your favorite RSS reader.
- The Do's and Don'ts of College Essay Writing
- The School of Good and Evil
- Attract The Audience You Want
- Why We Should Wish for The Way Things Were
- How Many Posts Do You Write Each Day
- 5 Ways for College Students to Improve Their Writing Skills
- College Application Essay Do's and Don'ts
- Love of Oneself
- Freelance Writing (Making $)
- Writing is Healthy
July 16th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
The hard work and concentration to turn ideas into stories is the part that we usually mean when we say we have writer’s block, at least that tends to be my problem. When you have many ideas how do you organize them and choose what to use?
July 17th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Hello, Tina:
As far as I can tell, when a writer has many ideas there is nothing left to do but to randomly pick any one and start the process of writing it out. The writer will find out soon enough whether or not more time should be spent on that idea. If the idea cannot be made into a piece of fiction or non-fiction it is time to go on to the next idea.
Usually, a writer will develop an instinct for a good idea.
July 18th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I struggle with writers block now and then but somehow something always sparks an idea. Good article
July 18th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Hi, Ben Pearce:
Yes, when a writer knows that writer’s block is part of the deal and the answer is just to keep at it an idea will pop up and isn’t that a great feeling. It makes the dry spell not so bad. Of course while the dry spell is going on it’s terrible.
July 20th, 2009 at 4:38 am
Sometimes it’s all too easy to get caught up in writing and forget about living! Simple sound advice that I definitely need to make a date to follow!
July 20th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Hi, D Pearson:
As important as writing is, sometimes there comes a time to just chill out and let the well fill up again.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:20 am
My mind gets filled with so many ideas, but sadly, I let them fizzle out. Most of the time, they don’t develop fully in the mind. But the minute I start putting them on the screen, the mind gets back into its creative mode and I’m surprised how easy it really is.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Nice article! We are studying this sort of thing at school at the moment!
August 12th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Hi, J W:
I don’t think a writer can hide from his or her life even if the writer wants to. And when the writer makes up something that has nothing to do with the writer’s life, what the writer decides to write about and how the writer writes about it will reveal the writer to the reader as if the reader was reading the writer’s diary.
http://www.writinghood.com/online-writing/writing-blogging-and-hope/
May 29th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Win with the best companies to profitability in 2010, enter on this link
http://businessomar.yoo7.com