Ideas For Free!

Okay, so these are a few ideas I had during my mad months earlier this year. Sadly, I'm not going to be able to use them, but if you like any or think you can make something of any one of these ideas, then they're yours for the taking. Here goes:

1. A girl who is protective about her friends, a guy who is used to being pampered by her discovers that she is being mistreated at home and makes a plan to get her out of there.

2. A guy who has vowed to stay away from the War, ends up joining when he discovers the girl he loves has disguised herself to go into battle.

3. A young girl leaves everything and goes to a hill station to chase  her dreams of writing. There, she meets a guy who had also tried to do the same and unable to, set up a small cafe, which becomes a cultural hub. There she sees all kinds of characters, but she falls for him who shelters them all despite him being many years older than she is.

4. A bar, where the bartender and owner manipulate the patrons and place bets on how the stories in their lives will unfold.

5. He ignores her, almost not seeing her, because he's so busy with the war and doesn't want to burden her with his troubles. She's the Queen in disguise and she doesn't want to burden him with the troubles of ruling her corrupted land once she comes back into power. Upset with him, at the end of the war, she goes without leaving him a message. He discovers that she is the Queen and goes to win her back.

6. A girl makes a clone of herself to marry him. However, he is as bossy and narcissistic as she is. They fight as he tries to control her and she kills him, just as he dials 911. he has no record, no birth certificate so the officials do not know what to arrest her on the basis of. They set her free and she she sets off for home, only to get shot in the back as she realizes too late, that he wasn't totally dead.

7. An artist who kills people and uses their blood to create her paintings and the detective who falls in love with her.

8. A guy volunteers to repair the grave of his mother as it is broken. One brother supports him and decides to take up the job. The other brother and his sister oppose him, thinking they will have to pay for it. From the grave, it goes to the will and about how one is trying to show he has more love for the mother to get a larger claim on the inheritance. The other brother is shocked and decides to leave the grave untouched. The lady sips her tea alone, as she looks at the property she sits in. The grave lies broken as ever.

9. She has always felt like an alien was inside her but never told anybody. She visits her granny's house unexpected one day and sees her performing the weirdest ritual as alien beings come on earth. Curious, she stows away and finds she is princess in this land. But she discovers that there is a defect in this land, a vacuum through which everything is slowly being sucked out. The only way to plug the hole is by connecting it to another land. So she volunteers to carry this responsibility and comes back to earth.

10. She leaves her wedding ceremony when she learns of her brother's disappearance from a maid. Confronting her uncle, who had seen the entire thing, she finds out he was taken by an outlaw. She leaves to get her brother back. There, she discovers a handsome man with his own set of rules. They fall in love and she realizes he was her betrothed, He was chased away for the death of his father as a little kid. They collect his men and go to fight the uncle who uses her brother as ransom. But they defeat him in the end.

How do I know which story to save?

There are a million stories to write about in one’s lifetime, and about ten of those every day. It only takes the question ‘what if?’ to turn the simplest idea into a full-fledged story. Similarly, if a certain character grips my attention and I want my world to contain someone just like him; I’ll probably get all excited and find a way to make it happen.

The question is which story should I decide to pursue?

At this point, I normally ask myself what I really want to write. Is it a short story or a novel?

Some ideas lend themselves very well to short stories- that sudden twist, the fast movement of the characters, the possible unity of time and place and the revolving of the story around very few characters who adequately share the space you give to them in the short story.

Some ideas are meant for novels- where characters need to be developed slowly to reveal complex motives and the story takes place in multiple locations with multiple characters having different stakes in the various events of the narrative.

If an idea really gets me excited but is meant for a novel that I don’t see myself taking the time out to write, then I have to discard it. If the idea for a short story really excites me, I have to focus on the fact that it’s going to be a short story and not go overboard writing it.

The story I choose to write depends on the time I have and the sort of project I want to get involved in. Certain ideas suit certain forms and trying to bend the rules will lead to a dehydrated and condensed novel or a short story with false extensions.

How Do I Pause Writing When Life Comes Calling?

One of the most painful things to do when I’ve begun to write is to stop. The flow of thoughts is so incessant that I think to stop them must surely be a sin.

I have to remind myself that I have a life outside of the story that I’m creating and if that doesn’t work, remind myself that in all probability, the story will definitely have rough edges that have to be worked out in the light of day. 

Many a time, have I ignored this advice, ignored that I have a life and gone on writing anyway.

So do I deliver a killer story that way?

No. I mostly have to discard the pieces immediately after, or discard the very parts I’ve forced myself to write after giving myself that warning. 

When I immerse myself into my imaginary world, then take a breather and come back again, I find the world I’ve created lacking. Then I can infuse those elements the real world has inspired me with into my writing.

But after I get back, how do I know I will have the same connection with the story, the insanely strong connection I felt the previous day? I don’t. Just like I don’t know if that guy I had the one amazing date with is going to call me or not.

If I do find that connect, then it’s awesome, I can continue writing immediately. If not, I see if changing anything about it will make it work for me. Maybe an idea is buried in the gibberish. Maybe changing a character or a character’s decision can help. Maybe changing the plot elements will do the trick.

But if I try all of that and it still doesn’t work, then it’s time to move on without looking back. After all a good story like a great love, affair simply can’t be forced.