Brilliant ideas and story-thinking

Every once in a while, Kyra will come up to me and say, “Mommy! I have a brilliant idea!” Sometimes, this idea is no more than me following her to see something she’s done. Recently, she cleaned her room. Yes, all by herself. The child is already more organized than I am on my best day. The moment she decides to take over the world, watch out.

Yesterday, on the drive home, I had a brilliant idea. In MacKenna’s story, I want to include some letters and notes from another character (and that’s all I’m saying–the who/what behind that is the super secret double probation part of the novel). So … I had this general idea of what I wanted. It felt like a solid idea.

But pulling it off? You know, add in the actual content, the words that would go along with this idea. This has been bugging me for a while. During draft two, I kept putting it off: oh, it’s a draft three problem, I’d tell myself. Well, here I am staring at draft three without a clue.

Then, driving home yesterday, it hit me. A major of course moment. I love these. You’re sitting there (okay, driving there), minding your own business, when it the idea fairy smacks you upside the head. I can hear the words already.

I’ve always advocated letting a story rest, compost, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes you have to be still (even if you’re driving) for the ideas to come.