which do you find easier...

[Bamy]

I don't know why but I was in lectures yesterday and I came up with YET ANOTHER plot. This time for a short story, or a series of them. I was just wondering, where ans when do you find that you are most creative, and if you do get good ides, how often do you start then and if you start them how often do you complete them.

I myself keep getting loads of ideas and note them down, I occasionally start then and have real trouble finishing them, I think I have only ever finished a story I wrote for my niece Tyler and am getting close with my NaNo novel of last year. With any luck I will be able to finish it and edit it over the easter hols.

so...what about you?

[Aurelia]

I find I'm most creative in random places - ideas just pop into my head. I unfortunately rarely write about them and never finish them.

[Just Bob]

Professional authors frequently talk about how annoying it is when they are approached by some idiot who has "a great idea" and wants them to write it up as a book and split the cash. In general, ideas are ten-to-the-penny. It's writing the story that's the difficult bit, and indeed the bit that very few people manage to do well.

[Anareth]

Just Bob is right. All my friends who make their livings as writers have a policy--they don't do 'idea collaborations,' don't bother asking. Ideas are cheaper than a dime a dozen. I have plenty of ideas, it's sitting down and writing everything out that's difficult, and knowing when an idea works and when it has to be changed to make it work.

I routinely finish things. It's the rewrites that kill me.

[Ian]

How did we get onto "idea collaborations"? Amy's post never mentioned them, she was asking about your (and her) own ideas!

Anyway, I often get ideas, but most of the time I don't take them any further (and as for finishing the ones that do get started...) ;)

[Brenda]

I had an idea for a situation for a character, but in attempting to create a backstory for that character I changed his personality into someone who just wouldn't GET into that situation. So now I have to create a new character for the original situation, and figure out something new for the original character, because I like him and I want him to have a happy ending. And then I've got another wonderful idea for an alternate-Pern story, kind of like I did with Dragonsong: An Alternate Tune - but it would be so intricate and significant that I am utterly intimidated to begin writing it!

[Just Bob]

How did we get onto "idea collaborations"? Amy's post never mentioned them, she was asking about your (and her) own ideas!
Just saying that ideas are easy (in general) and writing them out in full is harder (almost always). Personally, I have plenty of ideas but finishing a project has indeed proven prblematical thus far.

[Anareth]

Like Just Bob said--the question was which is easier, ideas or finishing them. The reason most authors don't do collaborations based on someone who tells them "I have a great idea" is ideas are easy. Writing is work.

[Bamy]

Just saying that ideas are easy (in general) and writing them out in full is harder (almost always). Personally, I have plenty of ideas but finishing a project has indeed proven prblematical thus far.I didn't mean just the idea, I meant the plot character profiles..all of that short of writing it down later..ie when not in a lecture...I just wanted to know were you are most creative really...

[Bamy]

snippies*I was just wondering, where and when do you find that you are most creative, *snippies* thiswas the main question I was asking...I gess the way I wrote it didn't come out right...

[Vyon]

Right. I'll try again.

My most creative spot is usually on a long walk, when there's no paper handy.
My stories rarely get finished (witness, One Dark Night - Holdless, I swear I'll finish it someday!)
Guess I should join the club!
Who said writing was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration?

[Anareth]

I think that was Edison on genius, but it works for just about every profession...

I don't know when I have most of my ideas, though I sometimes brainstorm/daydream when it's slow at work. I'm always mulling something over.

[Vyon]

It was definitely writing, not genius, but the person who said it might have hijacked it from somewhere else.

[Yonuh Adisi Fiend Jedi]

I get what I think of as my best ideas at random places. For instance just a couple of nights ago I got a brainstorm for an idea for my next romance novel attempt. (I haven't even finished my first one yet but I am getting there, just a few more revisions and I think it will be ready to try to publish) I was lying in bed trying to get some sleep when I got the idea. It must be a good one because i can't stop thinking about it.

Other times I will be at work, or just sitting around doing nothing. Like I said, for me it is very random.