There are no guarantees. And that being so, what's the point in worrying about it?

Honestly, you're alive, shit happens, you distill.

And why does the impetus have to be the "interesting" stuff? You stop at restaurant on the road to somewhere, and overhear some byplay between the waitress and a trucker, and there's an entire story seed, right there.

There's that, too, I guess. You don't have to kill somebody to write murder, just understand the urge...which, I contend, everyone does.(A lot of people get horrified upon hearing that from me, so I don't say it much, anymore.)

and overhear some byplay between the waitress and a trucker, and there's an entire story seed, right there.

Very true. I forget that, sometimes. My tendency to feed off my own feelings and experiences is self-limiting.

Note to self: pay more attention!

Sail, erika, I honestly think the best stories waiting to be told are the ones that drift past us in snippets.

If one comes by and it grabs you at all, write it down, and fast. Don't let it slip away. Nothing says you have to use it, and sometimes it can sit in a noebook for ten years and the story you write when you finally do dig it out is not the story you'd have written ten years earlier. Because you've aged, grown, evolved, added, dubtracted, whatever.

If one comes by and it grabs you at all, write it down, and fast

I think that's going to have to be a new mission statement. I write a lot of my own feelings down as they occur, but I don't often stop to detail something that I saw happen to someone else. I'm only getting in the habit, lately, of telling something that happened to me, but from someone else's viewpoint, which is a very interesting exercise, also. Time to expand my horizons.

Sail, erika, I honestly think the best stories waiting to be told are the ones that drift past us in snippets.

Exactly. Every day you're going to hear something or see something on teh news (or at the movie theater, waiting in line, or walking through the grocery store). You just take that little seed and water it, and give it some sun, and talk to it, and it'll grow.

But a story for him to star in hasn't come to me yet.

But can't you play "what if"? Does it have to be an aha! moment? Can't you say, What if Hero goes to...Panama? Or a bar on the Lower East Side? And then what if he meets a man with one leg? Or a girl with a puppy? If you have a character you like and who interests you, you can play with him, run different scenarios through your head, see what sticks or what seems like it would be something this guy would really need to fight through.

I almost never have aha! moments, except as relates to different parts of the plot, or someone's motivation or backstory.

Deb, I know you don't mean it that way, but I feel like you're telling me the way my creative process works is wrong. All I was trying to do is start a discussion of the fun of coming up with new ideas, tell how it works for me, see what inspires other people, etc.

I probably shouldn't have even included the bit about "what if I don't get any new ideas," because it's really NOT a major worry. Dammit, I know I worry too much, but I really don't sit around obsessing over every little thing. Just because I say I'm worried, or "what if," doesn't really mean I'm sitting around tearing my hair out over it! All I meant is my brain has this story generation process I don't completely understand or control, and that while it's cool, it's also a little freaky, because I don't know whether it's going to decide to give me ten books in the next month or one in the next ten years. That's all.

And when I talk about interesting ideas, I just mean what's interesting to me. Also, I'm planning a career based on historical and/or fantastic fiction with a certain epic sweep. So I can't help but be drawn to the shipwrecks and battles and the like. They're my stock in trade.

(I'm about to leave the house until late afternoon, so I'm not running from discussion--I'll be back around 5:00, I think.)

Deb, I know you don't mean it that way, but I feel like you're telling me the way my creative process works is wrong.

That would be, no. I don't think there is such a thing as an absolute; and, by that definition, there's no such thing as wrong. I was giving a basic, the idea that stories can only come a certain way is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And I do find listening to that idea from writers very frustrating, because I think it's bogus, and I see a lot of damned good writers clinging to it.

Bottom line is, if you say I can only do it THIS WAY and no other way will ever work for you (this is the universal "you", not the "susan" or "Deb" you), then I can't see anything but frustration for the writer. Closing off is a bad, bad idea for a storyteller.

And when I talk about interesting ideas, I just mean what's interesting to me. Also, I'm planning a career based on historical and/or fantastic fiction with a certain epic sweep. So I can't help but be drawn to the shipwrecks and battles and the like. They're my stock in trade.

But the situation between human beings isn't period-specific; it's also universal. Men say things to women and to each other, and women do, and why wouldn't something you hear between two living breathing human beings bring you an idea for a situation between two 19th century characters?

Well, my dad and my brother are fighting about the nature of their insurance business right now. In the book they are fighting over millions, instead. I'm not all that sure that the squabble would be different, just the scope.

I'm not all that sure that the squabble would be different, just the scope.

Yes, this. And what's more, if you happened to be a writer who wrote 16th century buccaneers on the Spanish Main stories, the situation would be just as useful, if you were willing to open up to it. The dollars can be pirate gold, their Dockers can be the clothes of the period, and the language would change to reflect your setting and characters, but for heavens sake, it's two men arguing over money.

And if that doesn't illustrate a universal, I don't know what will.