Light bulb moment sparks rush of creativity

Light bulb moment sparks rush of creativity
Austin Wells, Editor

(ROCKWALL, TX – Jan. 13, 2017) Have you ever had one of those days where your, uh, well let’s call them creative juices for lack of a better term, just seem to flow? Where you have an epiphany of sorts, and then get another idea that builds on it, and then another, and another? Well, I had one such moment just the other day.

I was watching a funny but thought-provoking movie on HBO the other night (The Family Man starring Nicholas Cage) when out of nowhere a synopsis for a story popped into my head. Not a journalistic kind of story, but one that could turn into a novel or even a movie script. At that moment I probably should’ve told myself, write it down for goodness sake or you’ll forget it! But as I was in the middle of a movie at the time, I decided to let it stew in the back of my mind, thinking I could fetch it again later.

I know what you’re thinking – rookie mistake, right? On the contrary…

The next day, I was having a conversation about screenwriting with my girlfriend and told her about that idea for a story that had come up in my head the night before. At the time, I only had an inkling of what I wanted the plot to be, but as I was explaining it to her this rush of creativity came pouring out and before I knew it I found myself outlining plot points and characters. I thought to myself, this is something special. I was literally visualizing it all in my head, like an elaborate daydream from which I never wanted to wake.

Now, I’m not saying this random bit of inspiration I had will turn into the next great American novel or anything. Most of the time when I get a good idea and try to make it into a story, it hardly ever pans out. I always hit a roadblock somewhere in the plot or with a character’s backstory, or even just trying to figure out what conflicts to introduce into my protagonist’s world. I’ll hit these roadblocks and then give up in frustration. I’m sure many writers out there know what I’m talking about. This is where it helps to have someone you can throw out your ideas to, who will listen and give feedback. Maybe your idea sounded good in your own head, but when you say it aloud to someone else, you might realize it doesn’t make much sense. Or the opposite could happen, and you realize that you’re onto something.

While I’m grateful that I had someone to share my idea for a novel with, I realize that no amount of talking and discussion will write the darn thing. Hopefully I can flesh it out enough to make a decent manuscript. Or even a script. I guess I ought to take it one step at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and as far as I know, no author ever wrote a masterpiece of a novel in one day either.