Strokes of Genius

It is one in the morning, and you’re wondering endlessly what to do with your cowboy protagonist. A couple of months ago, you took up the project of writing a story about the Old West. There are characters galore, moving around your brain. You want a damsel in distress, who by no means is truly distressed, making for a more modern female character in an older setting. She finds herself amidst a war with the Sea Dogs, a gang of pirates that sails all the oceans, and is taken captive. The protagonist of the story, the cowboy, is also more of an antihero. He is an outlaw, but he has left his criminal life behind. He does not believe he can do good, and is soon thrown into the place of a hero.

But what is the conflict that spurs him into action? You’re thinking. Then it hits you like a wave, tiny details swirling with bigger ideas. A purple octopus, but colored a purple so dark it nearly qualifies as a rich black. It’s the kraken’s offspring, hungry to follow in the tentacle-y and horrifying ways of its mother. And the damsel not-so-in-distress tried to steal some gold out in California. She was a former, let’s say, partner in crime to the cowboy. While a captive of the Sea Dogs, the octopus finds that working for the Sea Dogs is a form of enslavement and takes the damsel. The cowboy hears what has happened after passing through a west coast town. Then the octopus declares war on a small village nearby, taking the people’s gold and killing off all adversity. One big mess that needs cleaned up by none other than the cowboy.

One of the best parts about writing are the little moments of brilliance. Sometimes, you’ll have a great idea, but no plot. This is a problem I kept running into for the past couple of months. I had the characters, the antagonist, and a setting. But without a conflict, or specific conflict that is realistic, there is no story, no suspense, no drive to write, and no real reason for a reader’s interest. I found that the conflict is perhaps the most important piece of a story.

When do your best ideas come to you, whether it’s for stories, businesses, designing a website, or even as simple as an exercise routine? Mine smack me in the face late at night, and then I stay up for hours writing away until I’m all written out. I think there is some kind of science behind being tired and your creativity levels. Perhaps it is the most ridiculous ideas that make the greatest strokes of genius.

Also, the story above--not what I'm actually writing. It just popped in my head and seemed like a good hook. Oh the puns...