How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

Over at Upstart Crow Literary, Chris has a question about where writers get their ideas . I've already written a post about this, so I won't repeat all that, but Chris's post got me thinking in general about how I get ideas, and I think the thing that works for me is noticing stuff. I know...that's really specific right? Y'all are like "oooh, thanks Jay for the handy tip about noticing things , if you want to write." I'm a visionary, what can I say? Seriously, though, that's how I get my ideas. And that's how, if you dig into many writers' stories about where their ideas come from, they get their ideas, too. For example, I remember reading Stephen King's recent book Cell , and knowing exactly where he got the idea for the book. It's right there in the opening scenes, when the pulse goes off and everyone on a cell phone turns into a raving zombie lunatic. And I know (even though I don't really know) that King was standi

As I've mentioned before around here, I have written fan fiction. Quite a lot of it, in various fandoms over the years. I do it (or did it--I don't have much time anymore) because sometimes when I watch a movie or a television show, there are things I want to see that the creators of the show aren't going to show me.* It's my (humble and unscientific) opinion, that that's why most people write fan fiction, to create things that they want to see. Which, that's the reason for all art, isn't it? Fan fiction or Picasso. The creation of something to express something. The reason I'm thinking about this is because, in this interactive world, there's been a sort of blurring of the lines between creating something and critiquing something, a blurring that Linda Holmes points out in her recent blog post about the NBC show Chuck .** Here's part of what she says: But here's the thing: When a storyline isn't going in the direction you prefer, i