You never know when a lovely idea is going to flit suddenly into your mind, but by golly, when it does come along, you grab it with both hands and hang on to it tight.The trick is to write it down at once.
~From Roald Dahl’s personal essay, Lucky Break
To Roald Dahl, the most important and difficult thing about writing fiction was to find the plot. With that in mind, he kept an old school exercise book labeled Short Stories. Just about every page (both sides) was covered with ideas for a children’s book—some good, some not so good.
He says that every story he’s ever written has started out as a very short note to himself.
For example:
What about a chocolate factory that makes marvelous and fantastic things—with a crazy man running it?
A man acquires the ability to see through playing cards. He makes millions at casinos.
A story about Mr. Fox who has a whole network of underground tunnels. They lead to all the shops in the village. At night he goes up through the floorboards and helps himself.
Moral of the post? Get a notebook, keep it with you, scratch down every idea that comes to mind, no matter how silly or loosely-based. You might just end up with a winner!
By the way, for those of you who didn't see the announcement in April, Roald Dahl excerpts will be printed on millions of U.K. cereal boxes (click HERE for the GalleyCat article). Quite amusing, especially considering this line from one of his novels (can you guess which one?):
“Do you know what breakfast cereal is made of? It’s made of all those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners!”
*CONTEST ALERT!! Krista V. is hosting an agent contest at Mother. Write. Repeat. First 20 entries on Monday, June, 27 will be accepted. Genres are YA, Adult Paranormal Romance, Adult Urban Fantasy. Click HERE for details!
Happy Friday & Happy Writing!
