Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Yesterday I talked about entering the forest of new ideas to start work on my scream at me in the middle of a night dream/idea.

So I strapped on my big girl panties to enter the scary part of the forest. I'm really a step into the forest heading down the yellow brick road of beginnings.

The thing about new ideas is that they are slippy little suckers.

You have a flash of an idea, maybe a rough plot, but it pretty much leaves you to sort out the details. It's like organising a party. You know what you want but the final product requires hard work, change and lots of compromise.

That's where the yellow brick road comes in.

Most roads aren't straight, there are twists, turns, curves, dead ends and crossroads. You may set off on one road but, before you know it, you can end up in a different direction. But the brick road of a beginning, is always under your feet.

I'm not quite sure where the path is going to take, but I'm following it anyway.

I hope you are all okay on your story brick road too. :)

The Familiar -v- The Forest Of New Ideas

As far as my ideas go there are two camps.

There's a happy place where characters are friends, plot is clear and the blank page is, well, written on. This is familiar forest. Ah, how I love it like a warm blanket.

Then there is the other place. A dark and evil land I've dubbed the forest of new ideas.

What am I talking about? Stick with me, I'm heading somewhere. Promise.

Okay, I'm going all Stephenie Meyer here and admit I had a dream. A dream about a character, a flash of a plot, and an opening line. It was so vivid I woke up and wrote it down.

Yup, technicolour imagination overload. It happened to me before with the current MS. It woke me up, tortured me at inopportune moments, and was an overall schizo voice in my head. I HAD to write it. Now this one is screaming, and getting louder. Just like before.

So, after some debate and assistance (thanks to Operation Awesome) I've started on the shiny idea. Am I scared? Hell yeah.

I'm back in the spooky part of the forest of new ideas. I can't see my way. I've no map and compass. There are people people I don't know walking with me. Some of them don't even have faces yet. The page is blank. It's everything my Mum taught me to run away from. A stranger.

But it's kind of exciting at the same time.

It's like the rush of a first kiss, the first piece of chocolate, or that "Ahh" moment of taking off your shoes after a long day. Or meeting someone for the first time and knowing you'll become friends.

Because, after all, a new idea is a friend you don't know yet. :)