Where Do Ideas Come From?

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Hi guys. Pitch is here, and this is LIT IT’s first blog.

As you might have guessed from my introductory sentences, I’m super new when it comes to blogging. I don’t know how blogs work, what the ideal blogs look like, or what the readers expect to see from blogs in general. Still, we at LIT IT want to create a space to share our experiences, problems, and solutions concerning all things writing. 

However, this is not our advice on what to do or what not to do. This is where we share our personal viewpoints and the ways we do things. So, feel free to try out what we say or ignore it completely. The choice is yours. And it would help us considerably if you guys would comment on our approaches to creating our works or share your own experiences. As you know, we’re all learning here. Every comment helps us grow.

Now that all is clear, let’s get to business.

There were times when I conversed with my friends, and the topic of writing came up. When I told them that I write fiction in my free time, many of them would raise their eyebrows. “Really?” they said, “That’s nice. I want to write too, actually, but I don’t know what to write about. I don’t have any idea.” As simple-minded as I was back then (not that I am any better now), I just laughed and let them change the topic. But had I just taken some time to think for a moment, I believe I could change how they approach writing fiction and how they view ideas.

Although my flying hours in writing is, without a doubt, below average, I am quite confident that all the writers had asked themselves, “What should I write about today?” I’d done that. You’d done that. And I bet Neil Gaiman’d done that, too.

The idea just disappeared from your head.

Like all the Korean idols and superstars, you can never take ideas as your own possession. All you can do is stumble upon them and watch them grow.

Analogies aside, try and think about it. I want you to forge a new idea right now. Do that without looking out the window, without listening to the noises in the street, without smelling the softener on your clothes. Pretty tough, right? If you found it easy, then congratulations! You have proven me wrong. Go ahead and close this tab on your browser and celebrate your triumph. (Please leave a comment before you go, though.)

The question is, 

“How do we stumble upon these ideas?”

Ahem. Let me get it straight here…  I don’t know, guys. I’m sorry. I had never once in life found the juicy ideas for my stories. As a hermit that I claim I am, I have not an ounce of courage to embark on a journey to the far horizon in a hunt for ideas. It just sounds too much to handle for me. (The truth is I’m just too lazy.)

So how do I write then?

Well, let me make another analogy for you. It might be a bit weird but bear with me. 

Another analogy

To me, ideas are like beautiful women. 

Let’s say that I was at seven-eleven, like I always am, looking through all the bottles of tea that I couldn’t tell the difference in tastes. Suddenly, the corner of my eyes caught on a figure of a woman. My hunch told me she was at least good-looking. “Whoah!” I thought, “I want to take a good look at her.” However, if I straight-up stared at her, she would run away. And if I followed her, I would end up in jail. So the only choice I had left was to take a quick glance at her like normal people would do when they found a stranger coming in their proximity. But since (I knew that) she was beautiful, I wanted her image to stick around as long as I could. To do that, I needed to ‘pay attention to details.’

Within a span of a glance, I had to collect all the details that integrated into her beauty. It could be her long ponytail. It could be her white blouse with navy trims. Or it could be the way she rubbed her chin while choosing which flavor of Lays she was going to snack while browsing through the list of Netflix’s Korean series, trying to decide what to watch instead of actually watching one.

Okay. That was a long and horrible explanation. I apologize.

Let’s really get to the point.

What I’m trying to say is I don’t find ideas. Ideas find me, and I need to make the opportunities count. Ideas are all around us and can approach us at any time. All we need to do is pay attention to them. Take a quick glance around yourself right now. What do you see? The same room you’ve been sleeping in since childhood? The same chairs that you’ve been sitting on every day? Or that same view out the window you used to stare at when you’re alone?

I know that you have seen these things a million times. But have you really seen them? I mean, have you ever seen that your screen is rectangular? Have you ever seen that your room’s ceiling is white? Have you ever seen that on your left hand, you have five weirdly elongated limbs called fingers? Have you seen those? Trust me, some of you have never seen how ugly your tongue can be if you stare at it long enough.

Here’s my personal example.

Every weekday, I got up early in the morning to catch a Song-Taew to work. Needless to say, the experience was painful. And it still is. So, when the weekend arrived, I let myself savor the sweet sweet joy of additional sleep. However, I could only add so little.

For some reason, the apartment maids grouped up in front of my room and let their daily chit-chat explode at seven in the morning. Amid the heated discussion concerning the whereabouts of a broom, their voices ran high with emotions. And thanks to those emotions, my slumber was ruined. I got up, headed to the bathroom, and brushed my teeth with extra force in each stroke.

Fortunately, a shower calmed me down. But when I was done, the maids had yet to finish their talk. If I had held my grudge, I would only groan and watch YouTube videos in frustration. And that would be it. I would forget about them, and the cycle would begin again next weekend. However, I sat down and looked at the matter closely. Thinking about it, wouldn’t it be interesting if there was a group of fictional characters who would group up in the morning and engage in a spicy conversation like this. How would the other characters react? What kind of world would they live in? What made their grouping up in such an hour? Etc.

It didn’t help me get back to sleep, nor it shut the maids up, but at least I got some ideas out of it.

Wrapping up.

Once you see these things, I believe that ideas might have already appeared in your head again. Just pay attention. Pay attention to everything, no matter how trivial. And before you know it, you will see something new in this same old world. And that’s how the ideas find you. Probably.

And what about you? How do you find your ideas? Let us know in the comment and discuss. Maybe, it will pave the way for another idea to find us.