BEST PLACES TO FIND A GREAT IDEA:
Walking, Riding through town, Sitting at your desk in class or office,
Laying awake at night, In the bathroom (Yes, It happens!) Hiking through the
wilderness, In a cinema, In front of your bookshelf, In your CD collection, In
church, In front of your blank computer screen, At the beach (if you go to
one), Waiting in line, Visiting an historic landmark, At Nana's house, In the
dark corner of the street, Staring out your window, In your dreams, At a
museum, On the golf course, The fishing hole, At night, watching the stars.
"People watching" at the shires.
YOU'LL KNOW AN IDEA IS BEING HATCHED WHEN YOUR BRAIN SAYS:
What if... I wonder what would happen... Wouldn't it be funny... I wish...
Nobody would ever believe... That would be so cool if...
THEN YOUR MIND WILL RACE TO FILL IN THE BLANKS:
What if... animals could talk to the Vet?! I wonder what would happen... if
my parents were secret agents! Wouldn't it be funny... if a dorky guy
adopted an obnoxious kid?! I wish... I could have met a friendly space
alien. That would be so cool if... a kid could go to school to learn about
magic and wizardry!
SOON THE IDEA WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY BECAUSE:
You will think about it all the time. Everything around you will start to
relate to it. You'll notice something on TV or in a movie that reminds you of
it. You'll hint about the idea to friends and family and they'll stare at you
like you have three heads! You'll dream about it. You'll change the ending
50 times in your head. You'll change the beginning 100 times in your head!
You'll want to do nothing else but FIGURE IT OUT!
THEN IT WILL HAPPEN:
One day, in the strangest of places, while you're thinking about nothing that
seems important, SMACK!! The idea will hit you at full force with almost
every single detail fitting together - maybe even the ending! You will
probably fall over and start laughing like a mad-man.... Or, you may just sit
carefully on your bed, completely overwhelmed.
NOW
IT'S TIME:
You laughed like a mad-man or sat down overwhelmed because you just learned
the HARDEST thing about getting an idea. A STORY IN YOUR HEAD NEEDS TO BE SET
FREE!!
WAYS TO MAKE THE IDEA HAPPEN FASTER:
Ask a lot of questions. Read about the subject. Force yourself to come up
with unbelievable endings. Think funny. Think scary. Think sad. Picture an
audience seeing your idea. Think who could help perform your idea. Go to bed
30 minutes early just to have more "think time". Keep an "Idea" book. If you
have lots of different ideas, pick just one and think about it for a whole
week. Think positive.
TIP:
You have no power in deciding if your idea is the greatest idea ever... or,
the worst idea since the solar flashlight. Let the audience decide. To do
that, you have to set the idea free!
