Ignition!

So following last week's thoughts -- where writer's get their ideas. Today (and over the next few weeks) I will share with you how it goes from thought to a full blown work to be published.

The writer had a spark of an idea; some marvelous epiphany to see something that perhaps others haven't seen. S/He takes that minuscule, itty-bitty, infinitesimal spark and works it into something that will ignite. The ember of this idea will intensify and glow and soon become a major thought of imagination igniting your mind to a story.

Remember last week I ended with 'a dog is walking down the street, it stops...' and believe it or not, that was your spark. What did it do for you? Did you see something? Did you think it was just a phrase for me to end with? Wrong. I was 'sparking' your imagination!

So, we had 'Concept' and now we need to move forward. From Concept we go to what I call 'Capture' and what it involves. You had a thought and that thought caught your attention. Why? What was there to make you stop and go 'hmm?'

You were 'captured' so now you need to explore and explode that idea to capture your reader. Writing is about entertaining the reader. A boring dissertation on the sex life of a cabbage head will definitely NOT make your reader go 'WOW' and rant about your story. BUT, if after dark, the cabbage head spreads open all its leaves, spins in the ground or walks about the garden - maybe the dissertation will be, shall we say, very interesting. Your imagination is the only limitation.

Back to the doggie thought. Let's work the stream of thought and play the 'what if' game to see where it goes. It stopped. Why? It sees another dog? A dog who has a collar and family. Our dog is collarless and fancy free. Give it some thought. The family dog wants to be, just once, a free spirit like the our dog and our dog secretly desires to have a family; a sense of belonging.

There, you have the beginning of a story. You've added just a couple of ideas and already have your capture. Your reader wants to know how each of the dogs will realize their goals and how those goals will be met.

Wait a minute... your dog didn't see another dog? Okay. What did your dog do? Share...