Thursday 22 May 2014

...it wasn't that brilliant

1.     The funny thing is I thought I was being brilliant, and may have even said so in my previous blog. But apparently I wasn’t. Most of the authors I approached gave me vague answers. I don’t think most of us know where the idea germinated. It just happened one day. We don’t record that day as momentous, because it’s only months or maybe years later when you’re finishing the book that you look back and wonder, ‘How did this shit start?’ But by then you’re too far in, you’re an author. You can’t go back. You’ve been bitten.


I did say most authors. The other authors vividly remember the moment that they got the idea. And to be honest, they were very earnest and it was rather boring. I won’t foist that on you. I actually remember getting the idea for one story when I was out jogging. I’ve learnt that I don’t have a very good memory and after years of, ‘Darn, what was that idea that I had this morning?’ I have started doing what the experts always tell budding authors-if you get an idea for a story, write it down. I quickly pulled my phone out and hurriedly tapped the outline into a mail to myself and ran into a tree. I still have the bruise. If anyone ever asks me how that story got started, boy, do I have a story for you. I even have a scar.

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