One of the
questions I'm asked frequently when I give talks is this: Where do you get the
ideas for your stories? Often I sense a
certain pensiveness in the questioners, as though they were thinking, if only
I, too, had access to that wondrous and magical land where stories come from!
Well, my answer to that question may seem somewhat simplistic and pedestrian, but it's something I really believe. Stories are all around us, like invisible spores in the air. We just need to have the eyes -and often the ears--to discover them.
It also helps to believe that every
life is important, worthwhile, and dramatic in its own special way. That's something I feel strongly about.
When I was writing my first collection of stories, Arranged Marriage, I got a lot of ideas from just listening to other people's conversations. I would go to an Indian dinner party and sit in the corner and eavesdrop. That's how I picked up the line which occurs early in the story "Affair" ("You know, of course, that Meena is having an affair!")
Eavesdropping is a great technique. I recommend it to all writers!
Sometimes we just need to be willing to listen. People are often hungry for a patient and respectful listener. They want to tell someone what has happened in their lives. They want someone who will give them attention, who will not judge them, who will try to feel empathy for what they have undergone. A friend once told me that soon after she arrived in America, her husband was shot in a store robbery. Her story touched my heart. I thought of how terrified she must have been, so alone, so far from home. That became the kernel of my story "Clothes," though I was careful to change the actual circumstances and to create a set of very different, imaginary characters.
The idea for my novel Sister of My Heart came to me during a
visit to my hometown of Kolkata, on a day when I wasn't thinking about writing
at all. I happened to see an ancient
marble mansion being torn down to make place for a high-rise apartment
building--something that happens quite regularly nowadays in India. Even as I recognized the necessity for this
change, I felt a deep sorrow. Something important was passing out of our
culture, a whole way of life, a different definition of family. It gave me the
impetus to begin the story of two cousins who live in a house like the one that
was being torn down: their adventures as they push against the boundaries
erected around them, and what happens when they fall in love with the wrong
men.
Stories are all around us. Right now I'd bet there are a dozen possible stories floating around you--things you've seen at work, or on a bus, or at a party, or at your child's school, or overheard while waiting in a visa office. But you have to be vigilant so you can recognize them and capture their energy. And then you have to write them down, even a few words, even the roughest of notes, so they don't evaporate. Because stories will tend to do that.
That's why a writer's notebook is so important.
There are other places we can find stories. Books, newspapers, movies, photos, songs. More about that in another post.
This is a useful post Chitra - to an extent. It is true that stories are all around us, and ultimately if the beholder looks from the eyes of the story teller, they emerge with a life of their own. Granted. The crux is, these eyes that see, these ears that soak them in, how does one fine tune one's senses and sensibilities to that level?
But more than that, the art of artful expression is what gives these stories power. Everyone hears, some truly listen, a few can express them sensitively - like you. I don't know if all writers are conscious of the energy and space within, from where a story comes alive, and if they are aware how on earth can you convey it to the other?
...still, thank you for sharing.
Good point, Harvinder. Thanks for writing in & thanks for the kind words about my writing. Maybe a lot of writing/generation has to do with practice. It took me a long time to be able to translate what I saw and heard into successful stories. (I have files full of badly written fragments, even an aborted novel!) Perhaps what might help is to say, today I will try to find one good story, and go looking with that intention. Even if we end up jotting a few sentences & ideas down, the exercise is teaching us an important skill. One assignment I give my students is to go to a crowded venue and observe people and imagine their lives & jot down maybe a paragraph about one of them. This has led a number of them to develop stories later.
Someone once said that a novel is like a closed door. You open the door slightly and see a little bit of the room. I have done so.
Years ago, a young woman flashed into my head. She's been sent to Alaska from India at a very young age by her mother. Who was that woman and why was she sent to Alaska? The very name gives chills to those who live in a hot climate. I didn't do anything about it at the time. Just let it simmer.
After I had written a few chapters of my latest novel titled Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery, I realized Mitra was that young woman and Alaska was part of her backstory. It was fun (but difficult, too)for me to write Mitra's story and now it's out there for the readers.
Very interesting, Bharti. Thanks for sharing the genesis of your novel. It sounds quite fascinating & I look forward to reading it. I hope many of our readers here will check it out. Good luck.
Hi, my question is similar to Harvinder's. I agree there are a lot of stories floating around and one needs to just keep their wits and senses about them to catch that one hook which leads to a story. In fact, I love spending time observing strangers and trying to figure out their backgrounds...! But my question is- how do you get the energy and zeal to flesh out that story? Right now, I have a few ideas and a few fragments but during the course of one's routine life- baby, home, reading, tiredness- how do I get the energy to finish a story? I keep thinking about my characters all the time and sometimes I get a brilliant flash of inspiration which propels the story into forward orbit- but how do I make time for this to happen more often? When do you write? How do you keep going?
Dear Roli,
Very valid questions to which there are no easy answers. There are still times in my life when I struggle with the same issues.
First, if you're serious about writing, you MUST make time for it. You have no option. Otherwise, no matter how talented, you won't become a writer. It may be that you'll have to pay a baby sitter for a few hours each week so you can do your writing. That's what I did when I was writing my first book.
I also made a list of things that I could cut out. For instance, I completely stopped watching TV. I decided my house didn't have to look beautiful all the time. I chose my socializing occasions carefully. For years, I had a computer without internet access on which I did my writing so I wouldn't be distracted.
It may help to get a writing book that gives you assignments based on a story you read in that book. Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction is a good one. I remember getting some story ideas from that.
Then you have to just sit down & write & not worry too much about the draft quality. Often our inner editor stops us from getting ahead.
Probably the best thing is to join a writing class or writing group. The deadlines will force you to produce & the group will give you useful feedback for revision.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Children's book writer Uma Krishnaswami said in an interview that she started out by rewriting Indian folktales because she didn't know how to construct a plot. I sometimes use traditional stories or other people's stories as scaffolding for my own tales. I think it's okay to imitate, especially when you're first starting out(and many people have done so), but not to copy. My ideas for stories come from my daily life in Japan, folk tales from traditional cultures, newspaper headlines, lives of the saints, and conversations with others. I keep a clip file for inspiration.
Suzanne, I think those are all excellent ideas. Thanks for sharing. The traditional tales are a great support to writers. I am at a stage in my writing where I love using traditional stories as my springboard. My novel Palace of Illusions was based on the Indian epic The Mahabharat. I focused on the women's stories & used Princess Draupadi as my narrator. I also have also retold a Bengali folktale, Grandma and the Great Gourd, which will be published as a picture book in a couple of years.
What are some of your titles?