Hit Me Baby One More Time...or how the ideas' process works

By Zee Monodee

Hello beautiful people!

I dunno about you peeps, but when ideas come to me, they arrive on the sting of that whip you see right here. Yes, my 'muse' is a sadistic dominatrix.

And what are we writers without ideas? The next book, the next series, the next plot point, the next scene, heck, the next line you're about to write, all spin from the ideas that simply 'happen' into your mind. And like I said, for me said ideas come on the whip crack of the dominatrix. How I wish the idea whisperer could be a sassy BFF who would tip these gossipy snippets in my ear - we'd share our little world and special interactions...

...instead I'm forced to jump out of my skin when the whip cracks and an idea settles in. Which makes for some awkward moments, I can tell you.

I'm bombarded by ideas all the time. I'm always looking for this image here (yeah, I know, I'm a nutcase. Welcome to the world of the writer!).

If you were to take a look inside my head (at your own risk and peril, my husband and kids would say. They've stopped trying to figure me out - which is another indication you've made it as a writer, when people leave you alone to exist in your make-believe worlds... But I digress). So this is what the inside of my head typically looks like:

Uh, yes, I have those 'diagram' things going too and I know how each connects to which story and why they play into the given plot. (I know, I'm weird. Only just...)

But we're writers, people! We thrive, heck, we exist, on ideas. You get a snippet for a story, and suddenly you're building upon that. For example, in the romantic suspense I am currently writing, titled Before The Morning (Corpus Brides: Book Two), my heroine is a secret agent. I have to think like her, and - you guessed it - that's where ideas come into play. She needs to sit down with the agency doctor and go over any potential psychological trauma in her past mission. Something she loathes - so how do you show that? She's a trained agent, so in thinking like her, you go something like, "she'd prefer a practice session of waterboarding over having to open her heart to a stranger". Which in turn, leads you to research waterboarding and how it's done, and this leads you to research torture methods in general... and then you end up watching CSI:NY and when the bad guys use cigarette burns as torture methods on their hostages, you already know that they are not Eastern-European criminals as these favour other torture methods. And researching the world of torture led me into investigation, and in turn, into forensic pathology, which sparked the idea for my upcoming release with Noble Romance Publishing, a sweet romance titled Calling Home (December 5, 2011) where the heroine is a cold and rational forensic pathologist whose world takes on a spin when she lands custody of her 11-yr-old goddaughter. This idea morphed into a series, about children dropping into unsuspecting folks' lives unannounced, and then... other idea, new plot kernel... Which leads you to...

... you get my point. Everything we do, every moment of our life, is a ledge opening onto the immensity of a new idea. You have no clue when an idea can hit you. Sometimes it pokes you in the side; sometimes it slams you over the head; sometimes it's a bitch-slap across your face.

And yes too - writers are crazy! That's what being bombarded by ideas 24/7 will do to you.
I have a notebook and a pen in my handbag - ideas go on there, especially if I'm standing in line at the bank (where you can't use your cell phone!).
I'm pretty sure to have my qwerty cell phone with me all the time - ideas go on there as notes or even a text I will send myself to not forget (great when in line at the checkout counter of the grocery store).
I've been known to stop the car on the motorway lay-by because an idea has come in, and my dominatrix-idea-shouter doesn't give a damn that I need to concentrate on the road where every other car is trying to channel the beep-beep Road Runner.
People have spoken to me at weddings/gatherings and I have no clue what they've said, because something caught my attention and sparked a new idea, and I need to process it ASAP in case it goes poof.
By now my husband knows how to interpret my in-a-void silences - I'm either talking all the time or I'm thinking an idea through, when he knows he better leave me alone for fear of talking to a zombie.
I use my insomnia-plagued nights to spin kernels of ideas into full plots.

Ideas happen everywhere, all the time. Yes, you might dry up a few times (often when you're over-written and over-thinking something - this image below familiar, anyone?)

But the writer knows that ideas really are everywhere, and s/he makes the most of that. Anything can trigger a plot kernel or a characterization tidbit.

Walking The Edge (Corpus Brides: Book One) came to me as a single idea - I was down with a cold and my medication threw me off-loop, causing me to live in a strange world of deja-vu while I was under its influence. Idea! = what if a woman's life was permanently like that deja-vu void? And she would have deja-vu if... idea! = she has amnesia. Now why does she have amnesia? Idea! = there are things about her past some people don't want to come to light. Why? Idea! = skeletons in the closet ... and so on, which led me to write a fast-paced, action-packed romantic suspense/espionage thriller when I never in my life ever thought I knew how to string suspense together!

Gotta face it - we writers are a strange breed, and just like ideas come to me, they come to each and every one of us. Once I was watching TV, and in the same night, I saw episodes of Gossip Girl, Chuck, and Without A Trace. Suddenly, the thought struck me that all the blonde female leads in these shows could pass for sisters. Need I tell you what happened? Nope. (Idea & the cracked whip and blah blah blah).

We all have our own inherent idea process, and for another writer, these ideas might come on the lips of the gentle BFF-idea whisperer. Or s/he could have a dominatrix cracking the whip like mine (and making more people basket cases out there!).

All I can say is - when you're a writer, ideas hit you all the time, and dang, they hit hard! You better brace yourself (and unless you wish to end up as a certified loon, don't sign up to become a writer!).

I'm curious about your ideas' process. Will you share with me what it's like for you when 'inspiration' strikes?

From Mauritius with love,

Zee