PSA: Ideas are Easy

[rolanni]

We love that our fans write to us; it’s good to know that folks find our characters and our stories compelling and worthwhile. We really do appreciate your care.

But there’s a Thing. We say it from time to time. We haven’t said it for a little while, and a note that came in yesterday reminded me of this.

So!

Please don’t send us story ideas. We have story ideas — lots of them. The problem, as I see it, is not that we’re going to run out of ideas, but that we’re going to run out of time before we’re able to flesh out all the ideas we have into stories.

Ideas are the easy part of the writing process. (But don’t just take my word for it — here’s another writer on the same topic). Execution, that’s where the time and the craft comes in.

Now, you may say, But! How do I know that you guys have thought of my story unless I tell you?

And the answer is — we may not have done. But, yanno? We might have. And if you send us a story idea, and it happens to be an idea for a story under consideration for Splinter Universe? We get to feeling a little weird about going forward, because other authors have unfortunately experienced Time-Consuming and Story-Swallowing Unpleasantnesses because a reader identified one of the author’s stories as having “used” (in at least one case the word used by the offended reader was “stolen”) the reader’s idea, and now they want a piece of the action.

So, it’s just easier for everyone if you don’t send us story ideas. It’s OK to wonder what happened to your favorite characters, or where a plot line might go, but — we have plenty of ideas, really. And we’d like to write as many of them down as we possibly can.

Thanks for listening.

Here ends the PSA.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[brock-tn.livejournal.com]

The problem, as I see it, is not that we’re going to run out of ideas, but that we’re going to run out of time before we’re able to flesh out all the ideas we have into stories.

Exactly so. Plotbunnies proliferate like, well, bunnies.

PSA/Stories from Readers

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Just to show you how real your characters seem to your readers....I wrote you at length before worrying about what will become of Kamele. You explained the difficulty of the situation in Ghost Ship. The problem seems almost insurmountable given Kemele's background. So I hope everything in that particular story can be resolved.

I read an article about Fan Fiction in either Time or Newsweek. Some authors seem to encourage fan fiction and others don't. What is your position on that?

Thanks, C. and Gang

Fan Fiction

[claire774.livejournal.com]

I found it! Time July 7, 2011: Lev Grossman "Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived Forever." time.com. Fascinating story about Fan Fiction. Apparently lots of people write Harry Potter stories. The thing is does J.K. Rowling let them publish those or do they just pass them around to their friends? Or what?

C.

I love your ideas

[(Anonymous)]

I just want MORE of them. GHOST SHIP, in my own very humble opinion, was too short.
But I understand the necessity of time and the lack of it.

Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

PS The problem with Fan Fiction is that it isn't Quite Right...no matter how much
people want more of their favorite characters. It's the difference between sugar and
artificial sweeteners (to me anyway). I'd rather have the real thing even if there's
less of it.

Re: I love your ideas

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

Same with authorized sequels, like those for Gone with the Wind and the Witches of Karres. Good authors, not bad reads, but not quite right.

Re: I love your ideas

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

on the other hand, fanfic works for me when the universe is set up for it - like the 1632 books.