Chocolate Ideas

Recently, I read a blog post from my favorite (live) author, Gail Carson Levine. She was answering a fan's question about coming up with "good ideas" for stories. Levine said, "In my opinion, the most important word in Katie’s question is good, which is a stifling word, especially when you’re in the idea stage. My definition of a good idea is an idea that makes me think of more ideas." She went on, "It may feel stupid, for example, to write a story about a girl with an enormous left thumb. So you abandon the idea and feel hopeless about ideas. But suppose you don't abandon that thumb and let your mind roam."

I took this thought a step further, and began imagining stories for everything! One night, while the rest of my family consumed a "real" dinner, I got out the cutting board, cut off a portion of my chocolate Easter bunny, and proceeded to eat it. I thought, "Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a girl who could only eat chocolate and nothing else?" A silly idea, yes. A great story, perhaps.

I continued on when I received an invitation for a rather interesting birthday party. I showed it to my brother, and said, "Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a movie?" He and I ended up staying awake until after midnight, creating an elaborate story based off this birthday invitation - complete with dialogue, costuming, character development, and location.

I never realized how many story ideas were just lying around - waiting to be picked up and written!