It's all material

I was surfing around this afternoon trying to come up with an idea for a post and came across Barbara Abercrombie's website and read her latest post on how chaos is material.

I sometimes wonder if people think they can only write when "all is right and sunny in the world." If I waited for that to happen, I would never get any work done. As Barbara points out, even in the midst of chaos and a health scare with her husband, life goes on and honestly, it is all material for a novel. Who knows, maybe you could take the chaos in your life and drop it into your characters' lap and see how he or she reacts. Will you have them react as you did? Will you have them handle the situation the way you "wish you would have handled it?" Things to ponder when building a character.

My family has come to realize that whatever happens at home is fodder for my weekly column. Sometimes I will change the names to protect the innocent, but for anyone who knows us, they can figure out who did and said what to whom! lol

I have simply become a fanatic about keeping a notebook close at hand and even though I know I shouldn't, if an idea strikes me while I am driving I will jot it down. Believe me a brilliant idea will vanish in a puff of smoke before the traffic light changes.

There have even been columns that I have written that have sparked more ideas after my parents have read them. Those ideas and conversations are the stuff that books are made of. So remember, the next time you are in the midst of chaos -- whether happy or sad -- it is book material in the making.

Comments

[Robbihess]

Hi Sharon,
You must have a better memory than I do for keeping track of ideas! I am one of those writers who will scratch things out on a napkin if that is the only thing available.
So do you have a notebook yet?

[Sharon Schierling]

I really do agree with you regarding ordinary stuff that happens every day becoming writing material. I have just started blogging and I find that things come up everyday that I feel I need to share. I haven't kept a notebook yet, but that is a fabulous idea. Keep up the writing, you are good at it.