The obvious thing is to read, look, listen, but you already know that, so do you want to have some fun? Try leaving the house as a spy. I’m serious. Spying is not just listening and watching. It’s espionage, which places one in an entirely different frame of mind, where everything takes on the uncanny sheen necessary to creativity. Also, spying isn’t reliant upon a human subject, handy during a pandemic, because anything can become an inkling of a story. Be suspicious about what you see. Suspicion is the cynics curiosity. Suspicion ramps up curiosity. The other day, while walking my dog, I saw a whistle hanging from a tree branch in a very remote place. I thought, how weird, and kept on walking. On the loop back, I saw the whistle again and thought, actually, that’s suspicious, which made me engage with the whistle on a different level. I stopped and looked, really looked, and saw broken branches, lipstick on the whistle, and a little plastic tag in the mud (which I picked up.) Before I knew it, my mind, who can’t help herself, had linked these ‘clues’ together and come up with a story. The story itself was rubbish, I didn’t even write it down, but handling it led me to an idea which proved really helpful to what I’m currently working on. Intentional suspicion, spy work, forces our attention, which creates links, and because we make associations through our knowledge base, you’ll find that those links often piece together our other work. Because –
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck
Let us know about your suspicious ramblings!
As always, wishing you luck and inspiration with your writing.
Be well friends,
Gret Heffernan.
Gret Heffernan is the Editor-in-Chief of www.backlashpress.com and author of The Sculptor and Dark Ansley, Book One and Book Two
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