So, here I am to talk about some aspects of my creative process. Let’s ask the burning question so many have asked before. What makes a brilliant book?
- A juicy hook.
- Compelling characters.
- Colorful, detailed descriptions.
- Illustrious ideas that guide the plot through the beginning phases and climax into something that makes readers say, “wow.”
What makes the ideating process a painstaking one? It requires more than one good idea to sustain a reader’s interest; it needs page after page packed with good examples. I typically use listing to gather similar concepts. Coming up with one-word ideas that relate to one another is half the battle. Sometimes, the process depends on intangibles, on simply following the story where it takes you. Other times, brainstorming and listing can be helpful in rounding out a character portrayal or picturesque scene. If you’re using imagination to set the table for the story, it is crucial that you ground your descriptions in something tangible and realistic.
A story can run the gamut of ideas. Each paragraph demands their share. Each line and each sentence requires their own. If ideas are hard to come by and your story is dry of substance and color, you may not be ideating enough. A computer shouldn’t be shunned for its modernity and difficulty to use. Employ one to write as many related concepts as you can and classify them according to common traits. This helps you distinguish relationships between groups of ideas. A computer makes this process many times easier than a typewriter, so take advantage. You can also use post-it notes, although keeping so many can get out of hand.
I sometimes see actual scenes unfolding in my daydreams—events that are integral to my stories. I don’t spend too much time idly without describing them in detail, choosing to elaborate on them before they fade away. This is something I call, “visualization.” To ensure even some semblance of world building, some effort must be reserved for the process of building scenes brick by brick. These building blocks can be derived from the individual word listing concepts that I mentioned earlier. By free writing about an event or a concept, you can create the story from the ground up. Character portrayals are the same. To effectively portray a character, you must have some sense of who they are. It is your job to step into their shoes and see the world in their unique way. Try listing to ground these personality traits. Rounding out a character sometimes needs a real-life basis. Interview experts or base your characters on similar roles in movies or TV. Keep up with current events to generate ideas and possible story concepts.
Borrowed tropes or story elements from other works can be reimagined and rendered new again. Just make certain to include as many scenes as possible from an original perspective to prevent from putting together parts like Frankenstein’s Monster. After all, readers deserve at least some degree of originality and not a complete hackery of someone else’s hard work. Take note that readers might love haunted house stories, but not if it adds nothing new.
And if you haven’t developed your unique authorial voice, it’s one of the first things that requires work.
To break things down…
Establishing a juicy hook can be made easier if you use an elevator pitch to describe your story in one statement. Often, people refer to a versus comparison of two books for their pitch, but the hook is much better expressed with a singular line telling readers what they can expect. Once readers understand the story in a nutshell, it prepares them for the ride into the dark side, following events as they occur.
Character portrayals must align with their intended audience. Don’t fret if one reviewer doesn’t relate with your lead character. Targeted marketing campaigns help books gain exposure to certain demographics, which leads to the right book ending in the right hands, ideally.
What to do when the daydreams come but everything ends up lost in translation? Relax. Sit down and distract yourself. Generate ideas just by being inquisitive. There are tons of short films online that can serve as inspiration. Read slowly when it strikes the mood; appreciate the word usage, syllabic precision, and varied sentence structure found in some literary works. Visual cues make up for lapses in visualization. Scenic places and things like paintings and graphic design work can ignite the passion for a literal equivalent. Use the one-word analogies you classified into lists to reimagine something potentially groundbreaking, something unfamiliar and altogether exciting. Once the details are rife for the narration, the poetic power induced by your knack for literary aesthetics will coalesce it all into something beautiful. After some time editing, your work in progress evolves into something grander and more complex, improving each step of the way if you remain disciplined. If you stay patient and let your creative powers shine, writing won’t simply involve the most casual perusal of expressions and ideas. It becomes art.
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