My Idea

No, I'm not going to tell you the idea. That would ruin the fun. But I will tell you a few other things.

The books I've read usually have a section on where authors get their ideas. Often, these books will talk about how ideas are everywhere, but it is often a secondary idea or meaning that helps propel that idea into an actual story. Furthermore, to arrive at that secondary idea or meaning, many of the books discuss ways your conscious and unconscious minds talk to one another.

Well, the first idea came from a dream I had years ago. Probably close to 15 years ago, actually. There was an image in the dream--one of self-sacrifice--that stuck with me. However, the more I thought about the image, the more the characters seemed too simple: one was good, and the other was bad. Neither had any ambiguity to them. This past weekend, I was lying in bed, in that lovely state of not-quite-awake, so I started to review the image. And miracle of miracles, my minds started working with one another--instead of a good guy finishing off the bad guy while also doing himself in, what if the good guy wasn't so good, the bad guy wasn't so bad? And instead of some pyrrhic victory, what if the good guy does something horrible but with the full knowledge of how bad it is, feels terrible doing it, but does it anyway? (Yes, I realize how unclear that sounds, but I'm trying to talk around the details for now) It sounds more like a potential story.

I'll let you know where it goes.