How do you come up with ideas?

[Lucanus]

It definitely creeps in and I encourage it. I use music to capture moods or personalities of characters and scenes. I don't pull lyrics directly since that'd be wrong but I see it the same way as if I were paying attention to a conversation in front of me at a restaurant. I pull pieces of humanity out of other artists' work and try to put it in mine.

I think Bono said (or sang) it best.
"Every artist is a canabal. Every poet is a thief."

As an aside does anyone else find it odd that a fictional character who would have been dead 1500 years if he were real has playlists he made on my iPod?

 

[tyriseus]

I think Bono said (or sang) it best.
"Every artist is a canabal. Every poet is a thief."

'Rob the dead they don't feel a thing,
keep you living for another day.' Black Sabbath (Which I think means it's the right or an artist to plunder the dead for either ideas or supplies...or eat them...if Bono is right...we do need to keep our energy up after all.)

Ironic but you just sparked an idea that has been fermenting for the last couple months with that Bono quote. I love it when ideas meld like this...

 

[ElinIsabel]

Music is huge for me too; it inspires images for me, visuals, or helps define a character or a moment or a culture. I've written stuff from images gotten while listening to music. Heck, halfway through my WIP I realized I was dealing with some of the same stuff in the narrative thats dealt with in a folk song I had sung at a few sessions, so I named the whole book after the song.

You tube has been my best friend; I've found all sorts of out there stuff; obscure folk music, different ethnic music, all sorts of really original stuff that isn't available in stores, that has been inspiring for me.

 

[Window Bar]

Ideas?

I've written far more songs (music & lyrics both) than fiction. Trial and error is an excellent way to shake a new sound out of an old chord progression. Lyrics tend to co-arise with the music ... at least through the first verse. After that, a walk is a lyricist's best friend.

In fiction, I am not a believer in pushing on through. If I run into a problem, it generally meets my definition of a problem: There is no simple solution. It's often time to work on something else. Dreams, complete with their off-standard thought process, have often been known to bail me out.

 

[Lucanus]

'Rob the dead they don't feel a thing,
keep you living for another day.' Black Sabbath (Which I think means it's the right or an artist to plunder the dead for either ideas or supplies...or eat them...if Bono is right...we do need to keep our energy up after all.)

Ironic but you just sparked an idea that has been fermenting for the last couple months with that Bono quote. I love it when ideas meld like this...

Do I see a grave robbing, cannibalistic artist MC in your future?

 

[tyriseus]

Do I see a grave robbing, cannibalistic artist MC in your future?

Not quite but that would be interesting.