New Ideas = Excitement
I’m so excited right now, and this is why. I’ve had a new idea.
People ask writers all the time where they get their ideas. There are lots of answers to that question, but I’ve never really had a good one. I know of great ways to get ideas, but I usually don’t go that route. Mine just sort of pop into my head most of the time. At the weirdest times.
When I was younger, I wasn’t really an only child. I do have an older brother and sister, but they were grown and out living their lives by the time I was born. They didn’t live in my house, and I only got to see them on visits. So, I was alone a lot. I really think this is part of the reason I have such an overactive imagination. I would daydream, talk to my toys….and even to myself. Don’t think I’m kooky! But I would talk to myself. Out in the woods behind my house, I was convinced there was a place called FernGully. Yes, just like the movie. I was certain that magical creatures lived and played there. And I would daydream about them. It would play out like a movie in my head.
Years later, and I still have an overactive imagination. I daydream. I don’t talk to toys anymore, and I don’t talk to myself either. Well, sometimes I’ll talk out loud if I’m doing schoolwork. It helps me think. What? No, I’m not crazy. 
But the daydream movies are still there, especially when I’m trying to fall asleep. Last night, I was in somewhere in between sleeping and waking, and an idea popped into my head for a story. The idea kept formulating in this weird place between actually being awake and being asleep. Then, the ending popped into my head. I literally sat up straight. Seriously. One of the BEST ideas I have ever had.
It’s a young adult novel. Either YA paranormal or YA urban fantasy, although I think it falls closer to the paranormal side of things. It’s kind of weird. The ending for me is incredibly exciting. I don’t know how anyone else would feel about it. Not that it matters to me at this point because I have to write this story. This means, the one I have barely begun work on will be put aside. I like that idea a lot too, but it really doesn’t even compare to this one.
I already have a name for it! That came to me before even the ending did which usually doesn’t happen. Usually, I have no idea what the title should be, but this one just popped into my head. This novel is going to be a good one. Oh yes.
So, how do you get your ideas? Have you ever talked to yourself? Come on, admit it.
Funny, I just recently listened to some interviews, one with Dean Koontz and another with Nancy Atherton, and both described a moment where the first lines of certain books just popped into their heads. For Koontz, it was the beginning of his “Odd Thomas” books and for Atherton, it was her “Aunt Dimity” mysteries. Neither one knew just who the heck those names belonged to or what they meant, but no sooner had they sat down to jot down their ideas, the stories just came pouring out!
Granted that doesn’t always happen, but it’s almost magical (even a little spooky) when it does!
Personally, I like Neil Gaiman’s explanation of where authors get their ideas:
http://www.neilgaiman.com/p/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/Where_do_you_get_your_ideas%3F
And I, like you, had older siblings who moved out and left me alone from junior high on, and, well, okay, maybe I do talk to myself on occasion. My wife has even caught me once or twice, but she’s a kind soul and doesn’t say a word =)
I am the same way. Ideas just pop into my head, and I often put other projects aside to work on it. Of course eventually another idea pops in and I am off to that. Sooner or later I will find a novel I can actually commit to. I think the movies in your head thing is pretty normal. I have siblings close in age and did/do the same. Maybe it is just normal for creative types… I talk to myself all the time. Usually subvocalize, but occasionally out loud. It helps me think things through as well. I look at my dreams for ideas as well. I keep stickies and a pen on my night table to jot down any usable ideas.
Congrats on finishing your first Draft. Did say on twitter that you already finished editing?
It’s perfectly fine to talk to yourself, as long as you don’t answer in a different voice. ;o) I tell people I’m ‘thinking out loud’, and it usually makes the funny looks go away.
That’s awesome about the new idea. Run with it. I get my best ideas when I’m trying to fall asleep. In fact, I had a similar thing happen to me with the book I’m shopping right now. I’d been playing with the general idea for several months, but nothing was coming. One night, the plot fell out of my head almost fully-formed. I wrote the first draft of that sucker in 6 weeks. I was already partway through with a different book when this idea came along, and it shoved everything else out of the way. =o)