When Inspiration Hits...

It was 1am Friday night.

That's when the story idea hit.

I was dead tired, but I couldn't fall asleep.

That's the way it goes sometimes.

If I finished all the story ideas I've started, I'd have at least thirty novels under my belt. Now, admittedly, many of these stories are not that great, which is why the currently reside in literary limbo. I always think the genesis of the stories is good, either the main character or the theme or the conflict--all have positive and interesting points. Sometimes, I'll get a couple of those points to run together, but something is usually missing. I'll begin writing the story hoping the other elements come to mind and I can keep going.

That's the problem (or, one of them...). Things don't come to mind. I wouldn't call it "writer's block" necessarily. I think of writer's block when you can't write, even though you know the story you want to tell. I may definitely be wrong about this--writer's block may be as unique a situation as there are writers. An author friend of mine doesn't believe in writer's block. He says it's just a matter of a writer stopping to write. Technically, he's right.

I've always found the term "writer's block" to be a convenient excuse.

Last week, I had the opposite problem--I had writer's express lane. I was so tired. Maybe it was because I had been up all day and did things to get ready for a party, for Thanksgiving--I don't know, but whatever it was, the ideas, the plot, the conflicts, the word play, the stories within the story, they all came rushing at me. I tried sleeping, but it didn't come. Eventually, I slipped off to dreamland.

Maybe I was dreaming and just thinking I was awake, because when I woke up Saturday morning, the idea was still there, but the story wasn't as strong as it seemed to be the night before. I didn't let that stop me from beginning it. I'm glad I did because ideas began to come to me as I started the first chapter. Yes, I could do that. Yes, I could make these characters be this way or that way. I even came up with something that didn't come to me the night before. It was a big step and something that needed to be figured out.

I've had ideas come to me before like they did last Friday. Sometimes I remember them--sometimes I don't. Last week was just another example of what happens when inspiration hits.