The idea of ideas

[John Dean]

I’ve been doing a lot of teaching recently  on the idea of ideas, as well as delivering talks on the subject.

I am fascinated by the way that the germ of an idea grows into a fully-fledged piece of work.

It fascinates many others as well. Here are some thoughts from other writers that I found on the web.

 

Ideas come to a writer, a writer does not search for them. "Ideas come to me like birds that I see in the corner of my eye," I say to journalists, "and I may try, or may not, to get a closer fix on those birds." (Patricia Highsmith, American crime writer)

 

It's very blurred, it's not clear. The plan is something which gradually evolves. Usually, I'll just start with one particular idea or certain image or even just a mood and gradually it'll kind of grow when other things attach themselves to it. (Jane Rogers, British novelist, editor, and teacher)

 

Anything can set things going--an encounter, a recollection. I think writers are great rememberers. (Gore Vidal, American novelist, playwright, essayist)

 

My usual, perfectly honest reply is, "I don't get them; they get me."  (Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist, playwright, and critic)