Where Do You Get Your Ideas? |
| Almost anywhere. Part of an overheard conversation. Something I see while driving. A turn of phrase on the television news. A song on the radio. I'm always on the hunt for story ideas, plot twists, Macguffins, reversals, openings, endings and all the rest. My wife is a big help. She'll point out a magazine article to me or relate an interesting occupation she heard about or even just a thought she had. She's not into comics but knows what kind of stories interest me. She's a treasure. Writer's wives are a strong and noble breed. The Wall Street Journal is also a tremendous source. They print a lot of odd news. Not the tabloid variety but quirky stuff. They did an article once on a mathematical formula the IRS uses to catch people cheating on their taxes. I wrote a story that turned on that formula. They print an Art Crime Update once a month. Perfect for Catwoman stories. They recently did an article on the history of circus peanuts; y'know those marshmallowy orange things that taste like bananas. Odd stuff like that. And well written to boot. I'm also always searching for interesting places to set fights and hideouts and chases. Mister Rogers and Mr McFeely often visit factories to watch licorice or peanut butter and I can glean ideas from that. Sometimes a really bad movie or TV show can spark something. I sit there and say, "Well, they blew that situation." or "That really sucked." And then without my meaning it to my mind goes to work on how I might have fixed the problems in that story or taken the second act in a different direction or ended the story more honestly or excitingly. Pretty soon I'm sticking Robin into this newly customized story born of some poorly executed springboard and I got a three issue arc, baby!
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©2004 by Chuck Dixon. All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without permission. |
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