Brainstorming

I decided to give myself a break from Boneknapper over the weekend and glanced through some story ideas I had come up with over the last couple of years. Most were pretty lame and were shoved back into the Idea folder. But, one held my attention for more than five minutes, and that's all it really takes for me to begin fleshing out the basic story plot.

I love how one simple word or phrase can turn into a diamond of a story. I enjoy brainstorming with the who, what, where, when, and why. It's amazing all the possibilities I come up with. Just like how a grain of sand can turn into a beautiful pearl!

I start off with the 'what if' game (I really enjoy this part). For example, with Boneknapper: What if someone stole a finger from a grave to exact revenge through Voodoo?

1) a crazed lunatic who fed off of misery? (not revenge)

2)revenge because her son was accidentally killed and no one was paying the price? Much better as it pulls out more raw emotion in the story and readers might have a tiny bit of sympathy for my villian.

(I have arrows pointing in two different directions much like a family tree.)

And it just exploded from there. Ideas flew through my brain so quick, I had a hard time keeping up to jot them all down! My simple tree became a whippoorwill.

The same thing happened over the weekend when I allowed my brain to wander (of course I had to keep reminding myself it was okay to be completely open minded and anything was possible). I think I came up with a somewhat unique paranormal story with a spirit, and boy am I excited about it! Of course it'll be a suspense because that's what I write :)

And I am continuing with another story I began to flesh out some last year for the fast tracking of Harlequin's Medical line. I've become a busy little beaver.

So, I'm curious. What is your form of brainstorming?

The Dreaded List for 2011

Happy New Year Everyone! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad to put the holidays behind me. I'm not a bah-humbug. It can take a lot out of you, distracting me from my goals. Again, I'm glad to have spent Christmas with a part of my family (having children scattered and unable to come home for the holidays was the only bad part). But, now it's back to work!

So, as with tradition, everyone likes to make their list for the following year in hopes of sticking to it. I was never that good at it. Although, my goal last year was to quit smoking, and I did successfully quit in March. So, maybe it is possible to keep up with my list and hold myself to a higher standard. The following is mine:

1) Stop procrastinating. This is such a bad habit to break, but one I intend to succeed at.

2) To submit my WIPs, and with a little luck and a lot of my own creative writing, get published.

3) To give my critique partners better critiques on time.

4) To involve myself more over at Savvy Authors.

5) To continue in learning and growing within my craft.

6) To read more leisurely. I've missed out on a few of my favorite authors' books and need some me time in whatever far away world they have written about.

7) Blog regularly here :)

I think I'll keep the list short. This way I know I can keep to it.

What are your goals for the new year?