Monday, September 13, 2010

Writer's Brain

Wow, I've come to realize that I now have writer's brain. It's not like Mommy's brain in which you can actually feel your neurons dissipating from your brain and oozing out your ears every time you sit down with your young children to play Candyland or Chutes and Ladders for the 4,587th time...that day. No, I'm talking about the kind of brain where the wheels are turning...NON STOP. Ever since I started writing, which is really not that long ago, everything around me flashes through my head as a story idea. Sometimes it's a fleeting idea. You know, like when you have a sudden memory/vision of something you're sure you dreamt about, but the more you try to pull the info out of your memory, the faster it fades away and then you can't remember crap? (Okay, so maybe that's due to mommy brain? Or maybe it was that time in college when someone told me to put that tiny little square piece of paper on my tongue, let it dissolve, and listen to The Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cd. Hmm...)

So, what was I saying? Oh yeah. Everything lately is becoming a story. Sometimes it's the weirdest thing that happens or occurs or that I see and I think, "that could make an interesting premise." Immediately my brain starts trying to puzzle things together. Yeah, yeah and then this could happen. Oh! And this could happen to cause this to happen, which in turn...makes...no wait. Okay, so this happens to this persona and then...that person...ummm...Wait...shit. Forget it. It's like those dreams. The ones you can't quite grasp the memory of. It's there one second, but the harder you try to make sense of it, picture it and put it together the faster it's gone.


That's kind of the process my brain goes through when I have these strange fleeting ideas, but they happen all the time. Once in a while I'll get one where the pieces are actually fitting together and those ideas go in my notebook with a quick summary of the overall premise. But most times I walk around and I swear people must think I'm a complete wackadoo. I talk to myself in the car, I'll tell someone to hold on in mid-conversation so I can try and complete a sudden thought/idea, or I'll momentarily blank out when someone is talking to me on the phone. You know, when your friend is on the other line and you know they're talking, but you've just thought about an idea for a story based on something they said and you quickly realize that you've just said "Mm hmm" but don't even know if it's a proper response to what they just said?

It's a little frustrating to be honest. Having all these ideas and momentary story thoughts floating around constantly in my head. Hell, they even come to me in my dreams. I got a complete YA Scifi novel idea based on a futuristic structure I dreamt about. At two in the morning, I took out my notebook in my nightstand and tried to draw the picture of what I saw so I wouldn't forget it.

What's my point of this post? I don't know. I ramble. Wait a minute. Hold on...no never mind. See it just happened. Some weird twisted thought for a story about people who blog that somehow turns into a murder mystery/thriller.

Does anyone else out there have writer's brain? Please tell me I'm not the only one with this bizarre condition (even though it can be a great thing to have, when a great idea sticks)

2 comments:

  1. I had a sci-fi dream just last night - and I've sworn to myself that I'd never do anything with genetics in it. This one was pretty cool though so i might have to re-think that. And yeah, I always space off when talking to my mom, but then that's easy when all the woman talks about is her cleaning!! Anyway, I know exactly what you're talking about here. I think it's great actually, even if it does make you look a little weird. :)

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  2. Angie...are you insane??? all that scientific knowledge you have in that ginormous brain of yours and you are not using that for a kickass plot???? Use what you know, girl!! I'm so jealous you have all that info in your head. There must be tons of material you could write on that stuff.

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