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THE IDEA - Or, avoiding low-hanging fruit.

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maiaco View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maiaco Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Sep 2015 at 6:04pm
Wow, I don't know how many rounds I've done, but each time it seems I've used a different process.  But it usually starts the same way  - I get the prompts at 5am so I usually wake early, read the prompts, then curl up and sleep for another hour or two. 

My process is different, depending on what the prompts are. 

If the location or object is familiar to me its a lot easier.  Sometimes the 'American' prompts are hard for me to get a grasp on.  'Ticket scalper' was something I'd never heard of before, 'junkyard' in UK is different than in America, etc.  So sometimes I have to shout for help before I can get writing. 

One thing is very usual for me to do though is to Google images.  I really like to work with images for locations, sometimes objects too (Googling tricycles in one prompt led to me writing about an Indian street view). 

Once I have a strong visual image I can start work, brainstorming, fitting characters to the story, creating an opening for the object, running ideas past beta readers, etc.

I try to work as close as possible to the word count - maybe its not always helpful, but it happens. I guess I'm just a word control freak :)
 

No baby acorns were harmed in the writing of this story

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LyndaD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2015 at 4:11am
First time doing NYCM, but I've written to prompts before just for fun (I actually had a teacher way back in sixth grade who had us draw random prompts for narrative writing).
  I'm not much of a planner.  I start off with whatever line suggests itself from some part of the prompt, then go from there.  I get about three-fourths of the way through, get stuck and go to bed.  Saturday morning I finish it up, then spend Saturday evening revising and editing -- which includes cutting out a couple hundred words or so.  Sunday morning I have a couple people read it and give me some feedback, then do any final revising before submitting.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stephaleph22 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2015 at 5:52pm
I actually start by researching the genre. My first round was "spy" and I had never read, much less written, a spy novel. So I researched key elements that makes it different from other genres, and I take notes in my handy-dandy notebook (extra points if yo know the reference XD)
I get my best ideas lying in bed trying to go to sleep, so I keep my notebook nearby. The next day, I just start free-writing, putting down whatever pops into my head, or what the little writers voice in the back tells me to do.
Does anyone else just...let it out? Like you go into a trance and the story just writes itself for awhile? And when you're done you read over it lie it's someone elses work?
Usually my 3rd or 4th draft is the one I like, usually its a simplified idea of what i started with.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mkinder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2015 at 8:32pm
I do the same thing, except I don't physically write a list but I bet that would really help.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stephenmatlock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep 2015 at 12:15am
I'm on #TeamJen in that I usually throw the prompt at my wife, and she comes up with a few ideas that I noodle around until something original comes up. For the butcher shop crime caper, her idea was to have a dead body in the meat case, but that just helped me get the idea for the ol' switcheroo that happens in the story.

For this latest one, I was actually out with the guys at a sports bar - got the prompt through email on my phone, thought about how ephemeral life is, how much we enjoy the moment but cannot hold onto it, how much we think 'we will always be friends' but can do nothing to make that true of anyone but ourselves, looked around the dim room with the TVs the only source of light, saw the faces of people lighted by the stark blue glow from the LCD screens -- and then Edna and Harry came into view.

Also - I have known an "Edna," a real-life movie star/starlet from the 40s and 50s who ended up as my secretary for a while. She told stories of Hollywood that I thought were entirely made up until I read a book where her part in a movie was described, and everything about her glorious youth and her loves snapped into reality.

So I mixed my own reflections with my own memories of "Edna," and it came into place. First draft was about 1300 words, and I just kept shaving until the story was light and tight.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DBA Lehane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2015 at 9:42am
Now in my 6th year of doing this comps and my process is largely consistent:

Wake up at 5am (when the prompts are available in the UK) - usually groan at the genre.

Go back to bed and doze on the prompts.  99% of the time I come up with a couple of ideas pretty quickly.  Chew them over for a bit and bounce them off my GF.  Settle on a idea...continue mulling over the "story" in my head and do some "basic" google research. Then early afternoon on Saturday I start the first draft.  Finish first draft mid afternoon.  Time off until late Sat night, come back to first draft and re-edit before bed and then sleep on it.

Sun morning my GF will read it - gives feedback/suggestions.  Write third draft late Sunday morning.  Leave it til late Sun afternoon.  Revise and get feedback again and then write final draft - and have it checked through, usually early Sunday evening.  Leave and then read through one final time before bed and submit.

A couple of occasions I've had a change of heart about the idea after the first draft and have gone with a different idea then...and that's always proved fatal!  I'm a firm believer in going with your original idea. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jenspenden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2015 at 12:53pm
Originally posted by DBA Lehane DBA Lehane wrote:

A couple of occasions I've had a change of heart about the idea after the first draft and have gone with a different idea then...and that's always proved fatal!  I'm a firm believer in going with your original idea. 

I'm usually a firm believer in sticking with one idea the whole weekend. It ensures I'm able to give it my full attention and make it the best it can be...But I learned during R1 that sometimes I HAVE to jump ship. I wasted over 12-hours on an action-adventure that had no business being a flash fiction. The concept was way too big for 1K words. 

It was an important lesson. I might not like switching gears, but I need to recognize when a story isn't going to work and move on. The story I ended up submitting was fine and it got me points, but it would've been a lot better if I'd abandoned my original idea sooner. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DBA Lehane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 6:30am
Originally posted by jenspenden jenspenden wrote:

Originally posted by DBA Lehane DBA Lehane wrote:

A couple of occasions I've had a change of heart about the idea after the first draft and have gone with a different idea then...and that's always proved fatal!  I'm a firm believer in going with your original idea. 

I'm usually a firm believer in sticking with one idea the whole weekend. It ensures I'm able to give it my full attention and make it the best it can be...But I learned during R1 that sometimes I HAVE to jump ship. I wasted over 12-hours on an action-adventure that had no business being a flash fiction. The concept was way too big for 1K words. 

It was an important lesson. I might not like switching gears, but I need to recognize when a story isn't going to work and move on. The story I ended up submitting was fine and it got me points, but it would've been a lot better if I'd abandoned my original idea sooner. 

Yes I agree - sometimes the original idea can prove to be too big an idea for flash.  In my early years I struggled with that a bit, coming up with too clever an idea that you can't do justice in 1000 words.  It's the one area that I've found screenwriting has really helped me with flash fiction.  I now approach ideas for flash fiction as an idea that would sit within a couple of scenes max without the need for too much back story.  That helps me come up with ideas that aren't too big.

I know you got Historical Fiction this round.  I always used to be terrified of ever getting it - but I've had it a few times in either flash or short screenplay here and each time I've generally hit a top 3 scoring with it.  I think the reason for that is Historical Fiction makes you pick something that most readers will know the back story to, so you can really limit the word count on explaining it - a blessing for flash (and short screenplay.) Whereas the likes of fantasy or sci-fi can often need hell of a lot of explaining anc context setting.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jenspenden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 10:12am
Originally posted by DBA Lehane DBA Lehane wrote:

Originally posted by jenspenden jenspenden wrote:

Originally posted by DBA Lehane DBA Lehane wrote:

A couple of occasions I've had a change of heart about the idea after the first draft and have gone with a different idea then...and that's always proved fatal!  I'm a firm believer in going with your original idea. 

I'm usually a firm believer in sticking with one idea the whole weekend. It ensures I'm able to give it my full attention and make it the best it can be...But I learned during R1 that sometimes I HAVE to jump ship. I wasted over 12-hours on an action-adventure that had no business being a flash fiction. The concept was way too big for 1K words. 

It was an important lesson. I might not like switching gears, but I need to recognize when a story isn't going to work and move on. The story I ended up submitting was fine and it got me points, but it would've been a lot better if I'd abandoned my original idea sooner. 

Yes I agree - sometimes the original idea can prove to be too big an idea for flash.  In my early years I struggled with that a bit, coming up with too clever an idea that you can't do justice in 1000 words.  It's the one area that I've found screenwriting has really helped me with flash fiction.  I now approach ideas for flash fiction as an idea that would sit within a couple of scenes max without the need for too much back story.  That helps me come up with ideas that aren't too big.

I know you got Historical Fiction this round.  I always used to be terrified of ever getting it - but I've had it a few times in either flash or short screenplay here and each time I've generally hit a top 3 scoring with it.  I think the reason for that is Historical Fiction makes you pick something that most readers will know the back story to, so you can really limit the word count on explaining it - a blessing for flash (and short screenplay.) Whereas the likes of fantasy or sci-fi can often need hell of a lot of explaining anc context setting.

Yeah, I've gotten way better about choosing concepts that fit into 1K, but I biffed it with R1. I thought the story would work, but...Nope! 

This was the first time I've received historical fiction, and I was terrified too. But, once I found my topic, I enjoyed it (well, I can't say I enjoyed it since my story shred my soul to pieces, but you know what I mean Tongue). I'll admit, I had a terrible time getting the story below 1K, but not because the concept was too big. There were just so many details I wanted to keep to make the story as authentic and meaningful as possible...I'm sure I'll struggle with that aspect every time I get historical fiction. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sootfoot5 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 6:50pm
I always pick whichever comes the most difficult for me (genre, object, location) and then turn to my best friend - google!  

For example, if I am assigned a genre I haven't written before, I go to google and look up the standard elements of that genre.  

This time the problem was the jelly beans - I really dislike jelly beans and knew I had nothing to good to say about them.  Granted, I didn't have to write about them in a positive way, but I wanted to at least look them up and see what my old friend G had to say and voila!  I learned a bit of Civil War trivia which led me to go further to look up what battles took place around ponds, and that was how my story came to be.  

Granted, this go around someone else in my group had the same idea BUT they used the bit of trivia in such a different way that I don't see it as low hanging fruit - more like comparing apples to oranges.  
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