Zap!
What do you get when you mix a variety of experiences, good books, personal history, observation, and deep thought?
Sometimes, nothing.
And sometimes, this stew pot of your fertile mind attracts an electrical current.
Zap!
The most amazing part of writing (for me) are the connections a creative mind can make. Mix a trip to the hardware store, a movie you saw last month, and the smell of leather and ZAP you have a story line, a character, or a new idea that leads to others. That such disparate subjects and experiences can form some new creative endeavor always brings an astonished delight.
That is the essence of creativity…the zap in the melting pot; the collection of unrelated things that becomes something new. Artists experience it. Entrepreneurs and scientists experience it. Teachers, researchers and writers do, too.
Sometimes the new idea or thought comes about gradually, as if it gestated in the current until it revealed itself. Others are just as rapid and unexpected as an electrical shock. I can never get enough of the creative capability in the human mind.
How do you experience your new connections? Are you a gestator or zapper (or both)?
What was your most unusual combination of unrelated bits that were zapped into a new idea?
My latest weird mix? Well, my new novel that is almost finished combines a CIA agent, terrorists, and Monarch butterflies.
It’s so much fun!
I get a great thrill out of mixing unexpected elements in a story, especially for the main plotline. I love this post!
And I like your blog. Thanks for your comment on mine. I’m impressed that you keep up with four blogs. I’m doing pretty well with two (technically 5, but we won’t get into that right now).
Thanks, Lady G
That story certainly sounds interesting…and I immediately want to know how the butterflies fit in!
Uh-huh…”technically five” is more than me, Lady G, so hats off to you!
Ooh, that’s a hard question, but I think I’m both – a gestator and a zapper. Ideas are everywhere but I usually let them incubate for awhile before putting them into action.