So I spent the morning cross with various cell companies as I’m trying to switch a phone and they’re making it ridiculously complicated. Hope this explains the tardiness.
Today I want to talk about taking inspiration. I know that’s one thing people often ask about when working on creative ideas. My first advice is: forget where, first thing to do is know where to record it. I have a notepad page on my phone full of ideas that I write down as they come to me from various places. For a while I kept a little pocket notebook in my purse for such purposes but that’s so easy to misplace. I know some people prefer paper, some prefer digital, just find something that a) you will have with you often, b) is unobtrusive, and c) works for you.
As for where, let me tell you about my weekend. We went down to Chicago to hit one of the last weeks of the Science of James Bond exhibit. I’ve been watching a lot of them with my husband over the last year or so and the gadgets are definitely among the most fun parts (we also watch for how many vehicles blow up during the movie and how plausible that is).
I found something rather interesting; when the producers were working on The Spy Who Loved Me, they were shown a prototype Wetbike/Jetski device. This was the first in the world and they immediately changed their script to include it. And why not? If you haven’t seen one before, watching someone motorcycle across the water is really fascinating. And not necessarily only as a first time sight. It certainly fits in with the Bond ouevre as a small, one-person craft that people haven’t seen/seen much of before.
Why mention that? Well, it shows how inspiration can strike and you change an idea to include. There were other things at the museum as well; check out these real-life not-from-a-movie spy tech devices.
Just the existence of these devices suggest obviously their uses in real life, but also character- who would be carrying that telescope and button compass? Who decided to name a Wi-Fi access device an “F-Bomb” exactly? Where do they go to use it? Where would it fit in your story?
I get ideas from podcasts, songs, just random thoughts that cross my mind, reading, myths, other people*, everywhere. That’s why it’s so important to me to keep a notepad nearby. Heck, I got a nearly fully developed story from a dream one time; you know those disappear really fast if you don’t write them down immediately.
Short post today, have a lovely week.
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*When I say “other people,” sure, sometimes I mean someone says something that I write down for the future; when I was substituting, the kids were a gold mine of random quotes. But also sometimes that “Any resemblance to persons alive or dead” disclaimer in the front of books just means “Look if this person reminds you of someone I know, trust me I fictionalized them or cleared it with the person in question.”
