Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Original Fiction FDK: Paying My Dues (1/1)

In real life, I do jot down short ideas for stories that come to me as I am starting to drift off to sleep. Like the narrator, though, I will get out of bed and start typing on my computer any longer passages or more complex ideas that come to me.

All feedback appreciated.

Yeah! Absolutely yeah!

I once, very long ago, had an idea for a story that was absolutely brilliant. Incandescent, even. So I dutifully typed up the intro section and yawned and told myself that I'd surely remember the main theme when I got up the next morning.

When I woke up, that brilliant theme was gone. Even when I reread what I'd typed, it was gone, vanished like the morning dew in a desert. I still have that fragment. It still taunts me, heckles me, thumbs its nose at me when I read it.

All because I was "too tired" to summarize the main theme. Another masterpiece lost to posterity.

Nope, not me. Not me at all. Usually a story idea survives the night. Some brilliant ideas don't turn out so brilliant in the harsh light of day. Some dreams have made it into a story, some were lost. But mostly, the twilight zone between being awake and fast asleep brings on the twist a story needed in order to work.

I think my husband would question my sanity, if I got up in the middle of the night. He knows about my strange obsession and most of the time he tries not to make fun of me. He's envious of my language skills, though. Maybe he should practice more,

Thanks for a fun insight into a writer's psyche, Lynn.

Hello Terry and Barbara,

Thank you both for the feedback and for sharing some of your writing processes. I am always fascinated by the different ways people approach the various facets of writing, from idea generation to when they write, how they edit, etc. The writing process itself strikes me as varied and individualized as the products of the writing.

Terry, For you and for your readers, I am sorry for the one that got away. That was a lesson hard learned.

Joy,
Lynn