it’s the classic boring question we get from people who don’t work as a creative – it’s also a question some creatives don’t like to examine too closely, for fear of disturbing the mystic process by which their ideas arise
for me, most ideas start with a small “grain” of something – an image, a question, a character, a word – then other bits and pieces begin to accrete to it, until there’s the beginning of concept that can be developed into a story
a lot of this happens unconsciously
i know this because when i’m adding yet another small something to my ideas folder, i’ll usually checkout some of the existing ideas to see if they’re still interesting – what i find with those ideas that ARE still interesting, is that they’re often much ‘smaller’ than i remember – meaning the ideas have been growing in my head while i’ve been ignoring them – and so i must update the file with all the bits and pieces i thought were already there ... this is often a sign that i may be onto something worth pursuing
recently i was able to observe an idea “happen” in real time
while walking the dog, i saw a missing cat poster with the words, “for the capture and safe return” – i thought the word “capture” was an odd choice and it suggested to me there was more to this cat than its photo suggested
soon after, myself and other family members, were approached by people living nearby who were desperately searching for their escaped parrot – we were asked to let them know if we saw it, but to refrain from trying to catch it, as it might spook the bird and chase it further from home
these two “grains” clumped together in my brain, and were soon coated with other stuff, like my love for Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, Lovecraftian creatures and nostalgia for my youth (when kids roamed free as long as they were home before sunset)
... and now i have a core concept for yet another screenplay to add to my todo list
NOTE: i’m thinking of doing shorter posts, more often – rather than long rambling stuff i tend to do ... we’ll see if that happens