The Seed Idea

When you are writing something - a novel, a short story, a poem; even a paper for school, you have to have an idea. I tend to refer to them as a seed idea, as that is basically what they are. They start out as a tiny idea, and then, as you work with them more and more, you start to discover that they are actually more than they seem. They start to sprout into new ideas; sub-plots and, sometimes, you even mix two or more seed ideas together to make an entirely new, exciting plot. You develop it, and brainstorm ideas for it, discovering what it was actually meant to be in the first place. After a while, you start to find that you have discovered an entire idea for a book - and you begin to outline a bit, creating your own magical story; arranging all of the elements into a full, developed plan. That's the bud. After a little longer of simply watching the "plant" grow, you start to work on it. You write the actual story, using the outline "bud" as your blueprint. When the first draft is completed, that is the bloom.

But, as often happens with flowers, the first bloom is not as big and beautiful as the flower actually gets. Each day, that first bloom gets larger, and more full, as more petals grow. That represents the editing process. After all of the edits are complete, and the finished manuscript is polished to it's perfection; you start to realize that, just like a flower, it has bloomed. So that's why I refer to them as seed ideas. A lot of other explanations are given, each by their own author. Each and every person has their own description of these simple ideas; and we all know that some are just a bit more complex than others. For example, a very simple idea is that a boy and girl fall in love and eventually, after a few struggles, they live happily ever after. You see how simple that idea is. But it's also a very common one. The more complex ideas are often more unique, and come from the imagination, not what other people think.

For me, these ideas start coming to me when I'm in the midst of something else. Reading, watching television, riding in the car, browsing the internet, and, most of all, when I'm writing my own work. A lot of times I'll come up with seed ideas that I think might relate to my book, though only slightly. Sometimes I end up using these in my current manuscript, though, normally, I end up writing it down in my Writer's Notebook for later use in another story. I realize that I haven't exactly explained what a writer's notebook is yet, even though it is the title of my blog. I promise that I'll touch on that soon. But, basically, it's just a notebook that I write in every day, putting down my ideas and thoughts, for use in books later on. But get this straight. It is NOT a journal, nor a diary. I'll explain that in more depth another day.

One more thing though, before I leave. I once read something about writing, that said that to create a great book, you must combine the mundane and the extraordinary. Right now, I'm calling a can of worms on that (I'll write about that later), but I feel like it fits perfectly right here. At least a really simplified example. Basically, when you combine what seems normal (a high school kid) and then add something extraordinary (his teacher, is say, a ghost, or something similar) it adds an interesting touch. I realize that this is a very old example, and, it has been done a whole lot, especially in manga comics, but that was the example that was simply on the top of my head at this very moment. So, until next time, write on!!