Basically, I get an idea. Usually, the idea comes in the form of a question: “What if….?” I ask myself the question. I ask a few close friends the question. I see if the question provokes any interesting reactions in them, or in myself. I’m testing whether there’s an emotional nerve exposed and tickled by the question. Then I start wondering what might happen in the process of seeing the question dramatically answered; what the journey to the answer might feel like. This stage is absolutely crucial for whether the idea lives and grows into a story or falls apart like old Jell-o.
I add details, I reject many. I come up with stupid ideas. Astonishingly good ideas seem to come out of nowhere. I can’t glimpse the thing directly; it’s too ephemeral – but by testing one thing at a time to see whether or not it belongs in the thing, I start to understand it indirectly. Usually, there’s at least one night where I’m torn between going to sleep and jumping out of bed to get to the keyboard and write some of this stuff down.
I can’t always tell when, but at some point, I recognize it. Maybe it doesn’t have a title, but I’ve named it in my mind – because I have a sense of what it’s about, what it feels like, what I want it to look like.
And then – there’s a new thing on the list of Stuff Nick Has to Write.