Monday, August 10, 2009

When Ideas Attack

"In the small, dark hours of the morning, an earsplitting wail woke Percy and Annabeth.

Probably for the tenth time in the last two days, Percy wished he were deaf.  Or perhaps, he thought deliriously in his dreamy, half-conscious state, perhaps I am deaf, and the ringing has become permanent in my ears.  Oh gods, let that not be it.  Please, let that not be it.  But it definitely wasn’t a figment of his imagination, as Annabeth stirred next to him, face down in her pillow.  He found this mildly astonishing, as it was the middle of July in all its glorious mugginess, and it was a small miracle that she hadn’t suffocated from heat.  He wished he could sleep underwater.  It would probably be cooler, but Annabeth did not think sleeping in the bathtub would be particularly comfortable or a good idea in general.

Whatever.  Right now, it seemed like an excellent idea.  

'It’s your turn,' she mumbled.

Those were the worst three words in the English language, he decided."


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Yeah.  So if you have a can of Coke right before bed, this is what happens at 2:30 am.  On the plus side, I turned out an entire one-shot!  On the other hand, I got three hours of sleep.  I guess this is good, since I have to save my mojo for the novel during the day.

Have you ever gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to write a story?  Or you can tell me the most absurd situation you were in when you got an idea.  This should be good.

8 comments:

  1. When I worked at a McDonalds in high school, inspiration used to strike me when I was in the drive-thru, and I used to write little scenes and stuff on the back of tray sheets or receipt rolls when I wasn't busy. That's probably the weirdest place I've ever written something.

    I'm usually up in the middle of the night writing anyway so I don't do much getting up to write, but I find my best stories come to me write before I'm drifting off to sleep, and if I don't write a little something on a notepad or my computer before I go to bed, I'll lose part of it.

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  2. This happened to me a couple of weeks back. I was trying to sleep and all of a sudden this woman popped into my head with her story. I wrote 600 words at 1am and went back to sleep.

    She showed back up a few days later and now I have the first (good) short story I've ever written (that isn't fanfic).

    Also, I notice you're 90% done with your book, congrats! That's awesome. :)

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  3. I'm always having to jump out of bed and write down ideas. It usually happens while I'm falling asleep or in the middle of the night.

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  4. I have, but the times have become fewer as the kidlets have increased. Even though I feel like I've been run over by a truck the next day, there's something wonderful in the feeling of a story that is so vivid and good that it gets you out of bed. :)

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  5. Almost all my ideas come right before I go to sleep. The good ones keep me up all night and still sound good in the morning. That's my gauge.

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  6. I usually sleep straight the the night....but my dreams are rather fun!

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  7. Last night the entire plot for my next novel hit me at midnight! I sprinted out of bed and wrote it all down. Don't you love it when that happens??

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  8. I've gotten up in the middle of the night many times to write. Sometimes that silence is the best for thinking... and if my brain is wired it means I've got a lot of ideas to spill!

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