tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post6312542802726916970..comments2024-03-29T02:43:11.575-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: THE Question!Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-91283690805286469512014-08-10T06:58:56.830-04:002014-08-10T06:58:56.830-04:00Thanks for having me, Hank! Love the Reds! The win...Thanks for having me, Hank! Love the Reds! The winner of Broken Trust, picked by Random.org is Joan Emerson. Joan, can you send me your address at shannbaker@gmail.com? Thanks all!Shannon Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10540336783142324746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-13089408726212717982014-08-09T23:27:07.814-04:002014-08-09T23:27:07.814-04:00Finally back form my day-long event! ANd I see you...Finally back form my day-long event! ANd I see you all had fun and were perfectly happy around here..great! Thank you Shannon-greatblog. ANd don't forget to send me the name of your winner!Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420701704169428286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-80311493279582232792014-08-09T16:28:40.873-04:002014-08-09T16:28:40.873-04:00Shannon, love how your idea showed up and grew... ...Shannon, love how your idea showed up and grew... and or should I say you nurtured it. Ideas are THE most precious commodity for me as a writer. They do not come to me in droves, and when one shows up I'm very nice to it... and write it down.Hallie Ephronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-60931846940863956472014-08-09T14:15:04.628-04:002014-08-09T14:15:04.628-04:00Hi Shannon,
I loved reading about the process you ...Hi Shannon,<br />I loved reading about the process you went through as your ideas accumulated, transformed and became a novel - thank you for sharing!<br />I guess I'm lucky. I've had more than a zillion novel ideals since I was 10 years old - as the 20 novels I wrote before I finished high school prove. This, though, can be a problem. Sometimes I have a hard time focusing on just one - I want to write them all at the same time. <br />The trick that helps me is that I keep a file in my computer called BOOKS. Within that file I have sub-files: one for each book idea. As ideas for a book swirl, I jot them down (at random, no organization) in the relevant file. Sometimes I find that when I go to a file, my ideas might have added up to 50 or so pages, which I then shift around into a skeleton outline. <br />I also find that most of my ideas come from historical subjects that interest me: right now, 1950s Vietnam and the 1970s Chicano movement in LA (2 separate novels). The more I research the more my stories develop. It's such a fun process. I can't imagine why everyone in the world doesn't want to be a writer!!Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15354719566758459929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-48775459589087472392014-08-09T13:49:16.510-04:002014-08-09T13:49:16.510-04:00Jim, even true statistics can prove false truths! ...Jim, even true statistics can prove false truths! But making them up is easier to research.<br />Diane, ideas are coming more easily but I still worry I'll never have another good one!<br />Debbie, I get accused of that, too!<br />Libby, thanks for the kind words.Shannon Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10540336783142324746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-80629354015632137932014-08-09T13:27:13.844-04:002014-08-09T13:27:13.844-04:00What a wonderful premise--a ski resort on a sacred...What a wonderful premise--a ski resort on a sacred mountain using waste water for the snow! Truth IS stranger than fiction!<br />This sounds like a series I must get to know.Libby Doddhttp://www.libbydoddart.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-25581432623675953802014-08-09T12:38:16.488-04:002014-08-09T12:38:16.488-04:00Shannon, what a great story!
For years before I w...Shannon, what a great story!<br /><br />For years before I wrote my first novel, I knew I loved writing, but I couldn't figure our where I would get a STORY. Then I had an idea, and I've been beating them off with a stick ever since. One of my biggest problems with my books (as my editor and agent repeatedly tell me) is that I have TOO MUCH GOING ON.<br /><br />I say that's better than nothing:-)<br /><br />Good luck with your book!Deborah Crombiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-60760216960625936272014-08-09T11:38:34.067-04:002014-08-09T11:38:34.067-04:00Organizing ideas--sometimes it's like herding ...Organizing ideas--sometimes it's like herding cats, isn't it? They seem to have lives entirely of their own. <br /><br />Hank, I have notebooks, scraps of paper, snippets in Word doc files, and flutters of them everywhere. The hard part is bending them to my will. Karen in Ohionoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-77824135934303414822014-08-09T11:09:31.105-04:002014-08-09T11:09:31.105-04:00I agree with you and with John Steinbeck. Ideas te...I agree with you and with John Steinbeck. Ideas tend to multiply and split off, but you do have to keep your brain stimulated or else the process stops! Sometimes I get an idea that is so fully blown that I want to run with it. These days I can't because of other commitments, so I take copious notes to revisit later. When I go back and look at some of those notebooks, I'm always shocked with the depth of detail I captured when I wrote down the idea in the first place.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07754229648422848542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-43620744474213023432014-08-09T09:28:44.235-04:002014-08-09T09:28:44.235-04:00Shannon, First let me commend you on a great use o...Shannon, First let me commend you on a great use of a false statistic--and giving it a significant digit to the right of the decimal place was the best.<br /><br />The kernels of ideas are all around me. The hard work is deciding which one to spend time with and then, as you have done so well, how to make the idea rich.<br /><br />~ JimJim Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-12374518544254590312014-08-09T08:39:22.535-04:002014-08-09T08:39:22.535-04:00Oh, I do wish I had a sister to give me titles!
...Oh, I do wish I had a sister to give me titles! <br /><br />Lucy--I just listened to a podcast interview with you on Reading and Writing Podcasts, in which Jeff Rutherford asked where you get your ideas!Shannon Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10540336783142324746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-3834207470847241602014-08-09T08:37:32.855-04:002014-08-09T08:37:32.855-04:00Here's another cool quote. Can you tell I crui...Here's another cool quote. Can you tell I cruise around online when I'm procrastinating looking for inspiration? “What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.” <br />― Maya Angelou<br />Shannon Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10540336783142324746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-58956826929841398342014-08-09T08:28:14.567-04:002014-08-09T08:28:14.567-04:00Hi, Lucy, I do that too! I save the blank side of ...Hi, Lucy, I do that too! I save the blank side of envelopes in the mail and they make great idea pads! Thelma in ManhattanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-48385258000119654052014-08-09T07:26:31.474-04:002014-08-09T07:26:31.474-04:00Welcome Shannon! Love your essay--my ideas come sl...Welcome Shannon! Love your essay--my ideas come slowly slowly too, and exactly as you describe:). The book looks wonderful!<br /><br />Hank, I know by now that I won't remember if I don't write it down. So I tear all my used paper into fourths and have a little stack of them all around the house. Sometimes it helps:)Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleibhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04660402177299546055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-62079121927601733632014-08-09T07:02:46.163-04:002014-08-09T07:02:46.163-04:00OH, yes, definitely---the kiss of death is to say-...OH, yes, definitely---the kiss of death is to say--"OH, that's such a good idea! I'll remember that..."<br /><br />DO you all have little notebooks? Or how do you handle it?<br /><br />I have decided..if it's a good idea, I'll remember.Hank Phillippi Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17420701704169428286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-62011519903348419232014-08-09T06:51:29.010-04:002014-08-09T06:51:29.010-04:00Science fiction author Jacqueline Lichtenberg, whe...Science fiction author Jacqueline Lichtenberg, when asked "Where do you get your ideas?" says that "You beat them off with a stick." My problem is making note of them (somewhere where I will find the note again) while the next distraction (and then the next idea) hits. <br /><br />Which is why the house is filled with odd pieces of paper, and why I need to flip through newspapers before I can throw them into the recycling bin (something could be written in the margins of a page I was reading when an idea hit). <br /><br />My sister constantly comes up with titles. I've learned never to tell her about an idea for a book because she'll say "You can call it 'xxxxx'" which is exactly what I DON'T want to call it. But I wonder, sometimes, if coming up with a title can lead to the book that should go with it. Ellen Kozaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-63706913957646362252014-08-09T03:51:37.097-04:002014-08-09T03:51:37.097-04:00Shannon, thanks for an entertaining look at where ...Shannon, thanks for an entertaining look at where your ideas for your books start. I find it fascinating hearing different authors different answers to the ubiquitous ideas question. You seem to have a great attitude about moving so much. And, I love how you said your next character showed up. <br /><br />Hank, I've really enjoyed seeing the nightstand reading pics. I messaged you one, but I guess you got it too late to include. The important thing is that it got me to clean up my reading area and organize my upcoming reads better. Can't wait to see the Reds' night stands!Kathy Reelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17004247271452356577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-44848234899922743632014-08-09T02:46:08.541-04:002014-08-09T02:46:08.541-04:00Itinerant writer... isn't that the best kind?Itinerant writer... isn't that the best kind?Maureen Harringtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03499876353651763590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-6613961555084225562014-08-09T02:33:49.021-04:002014-08-09T02:33:49.021-04:00I like that quote from John Steinbeck. And I agre...I like that quote from John Steinbeck. And I agree that the more I am developing ideas, the more ideas I seem to find. (Not that I've done anything with them, but it still holds very true.)Mark Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11567392254011373198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-13061495708445217022014-08-09T02:05:42.183-04:002014-08-09T02:05:42.183-04:00One should never disagree with John Steinbeck or ...One should never disagree with John Steinbeck or with writers who have more ideas than there are rabbits in my garden. And now I'm looking forward to reading Broken Trust . . . .Joan Emersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06810313925049108163noreply@blogger.com