How did I come up with the idea for Suffer Not the Children?

I don’t know how it happens.  One minute I’m just spacing out listening to music or making dinner – you know the mundane things in life we all do without giving much thought to them.  Suddenly, a character, an idea, a story plot flashes in my head.  I see it as clearly as I’m watching a television screen.

Is it a whole story?  Boy, I wish; but of course, it’s just a fragment.  When I was writing Suffer Not the Children, I had a dream the night before about a boy who was reaching into a dumpster for something to eat.  That was it.  Of course, I had also had similar things happen to me in my own life.  One of my adopted daughters was forced to “dumpster dive” with her brothers nightly for her own survival.  But this was different.  I saw the boy reaching in the dumpster and then he turned and looked at me.

In that instant, I knew his life story.  He stared deep into my subconscious and told me he was orphaned and alone and that I needed to help him find his sister.  I took in every detail of his face, saw his life, saw his future if I didn’t help him.

I woke up, but usually when I dream I don’t remember much of it; you know, just little pieces here and there.  This was vivid.  It was burned into my mind and I couldn’t shake the thought it was my responsibility to write his story.

Of course, this was the first time a character had entered into my dream world.  Usually, something in my conscious imagination says, “Hey, that’s a great title to a book about…whatever.”  For the next few minutes after that, I’m engaged in thinking about building characters and where the story will take place and what time period.  Then I jot it down and usually forget it for a while.

That’s another thing about my writing.  I tend to have several stories going at the same time.  In fact, sometimes I neglect a story so long that when I go back to write again (in hopes, of course of finishing it), I find that I don’t remember everything I had written.  Sometimes I even laugh at something I had forgotten about or think, “Wow! That was a great sentence!”

What I’m trying to say is that it’s not always like how they tell you to write in high school or college.  Sometimes it’s not about the outline, the graphic organizer or the details.  Sometimes it’s just some thought that sends your mind on to ‘the next great novel’.

As you begin to develop your own style of writing, don’t abandon ideas or plots because they don’t seem perfect.  Life isn’t perfect.  Besides, most good writers will tell you that as you develop your characters and your plot, you’ll know when something isn’t right.  Maybe you’ll think, “She would never say that!”   If that’s the case, take it out and revamp it a bit.  If the setting seems wrong, does the time period seem wrong as well?

Lastly, when writing becomes unpleasant, stop writing! It doesn’t mean you have to never write a finish to that story, it just means you need a break from it for a while; a time out, if you will.  I love to write and will probably continue to do so until my demise.  I’m compelled to do it, even if mine are the only eyes which read the words.  Writing is so personal to most authors.  It’s not only an extension of themselves, but a nagging little voice inside their heads that says, “Hey, isn’t that a great idea for a story?”