Is It Better To Put Aside Old Story Ideas And Just Start From Scratch?

This came to me during a journal ramble writing. You know those times you just put pen to paper and hope something comes out. Even if it’s just repeating: I’m writing to write nothing because I need to write. It’s all part of pumping or filling the creative well inside. Do something to allow your brain to free-form thoughts, especially when you’re bogged down on “normal” day items.

So during this ramble writing I started to think of all the mix-matched notebooks and loose papers and computer files I have all over the place. How can I pull them all together without re-writing everything…and then editing them at same time, so once again the product changes. Yes, my mind wanders as I write nothing about nothing.

Maybe this is all due to having had a strange question float into my head today. But, my mind wandered to asking is it better to just put aside old story ideas and start from scratch? Scary idea, really, because that means coming up with something new. No new edits. No new change abouts. No new starts on the old idea.

Something brand new from thin air.

Where do new ideas come from? How do you come up with a new idea when you can’t even figured out how to finish an old idea. Maybe I’m running in circles chasing my imaginary tail and have thought of this before in an effort to avoid those old ideas.

Sometimes new ideas are pulled from thin air and sometimes they’re worked from sitting one’s butt down and using your brain. Sometimes this requires stopping everything around you and telling the world…immediate and otherwise…to back off. Just sitting and allow your mind to drift and then listen carefully to yourself.

For me it was the other day when I ended up asking “why do I like sitting at my bedroom window and just watch outside?” I never intended to ask this. Never thought much about it…heck, thought I was just wasting time from getting something else done.

Maybe not.

I like people watching. I like sitting still and just watching. Okay, that’s fine. But what am I watching? Nothing much really. I see trees move in the breeze. People walking by. Cars driving. Birds doing bird things. And squirrels being squirrels.

This afternoon my mind decided to lead me somewhere else…again during the ramble writing. Write out character studies. This came to me when three males walked into my line of sight. None were together. One appeared to be coming home from the local school. Backpack on, cap covering head and eyes, clothes a mix-match of who knows what the style is. Another was a taller man who made me ask “why do tall men walk with their head bent down-forward from the neck like they can’t stand completely straight. While this man didn’t walk like a gorilla…yes, there’s a few in the neighbourhood who do…he had that tall-man-bounce. Normally see that style of walking when the guy is taking too large a step. Yup, this guy’s large step looked awkward and it showed through his body movement.

The other guy was waiting for the bus. He had that look of I’m-looking-good-cool when you immediately peg him as one who isn’t cool, doesn’t know how to be cool, everything he thinks makes him looks cool actually makes him stick out as slightly off-key.

Of course, this all sounds rude and mean. However, when you think about what we writers do, these are exactly the observations we need to make and judgements needed to bring our characters to life.

What does all this have to do with casting aside old story ideas and finding new ones. I really don’t know. What I do know is that each moment I take the time to ramble-write my mind leads me to something new. I’ve yet to be lead back to an old idea.

And this is it. No resounding conclusion. No neat tied up ending. Just the end of my thoughts. The writing knows its done. Thanks for sticking around to the end.