From Small Seeds, Big Things Grow

Several years ago, I read an article about J.K. Rowling. You’ve probably heard of her.

In that article, J.K. (can I call you J.K.?) noted that the idea of Harry Potter just came to her one day. She saw a boy with glasses and a scar on his head; the boy was a wizard, but he didn’t know that. When she explored that fairly basic idea and started writing that first novel, she suddenly found that the world of Harry Potter, and the events of his life, would form the basis of seven novels comprising over 4,000 pages of text, at least three “companion” books, and eight movies. That combination has made her the richest woman in Britain, wealthier than even the Queen, who had quite a head start in the “being rich” department. All from taking one random idea and working with it.

Why do I bring this up?

I’ve had a number of ideas no better formed than that first glimpse of a boy with a scar. In the past, I’d try to think about those ideas in my head, and would usually dismiss them. Why? Because when trying to see the story solely in my head, there just didn’t seem to be enough material to form the basis of a single short book, let alone a trilogy or series. And so, I’d just put the idea aside and forget about it.

When I finally decided I was going to put an idea on paper, however, a strange thing happened. A few disjointed ideas came together, revealing a vast hidden world, populated with characters with tremendous stories to tell. Rather than feeling my main character didn’t have enough story to fill even one book, I’ve already realized that there will be at least four from his point of view. Not to be outdone, several of the other characters in this story arc have pulled me aside and noted that they have 3-4 novels worth of story about them as well. (At least one of them thinks he’s also much better looking than my original main character, but we’ll just let that go for now.)

What’s the point here?

The point is this: when you start to actually write about a story or a character on paper (or your favorite word processing app), you’ll likely find that there’s far more to your story and your main character than you ever imagined. Let your character(s) talk to you. They’ll tell you about others involved in their story, how they relate, where the conflicts are, and what happens next. They’ll tell you how they happened to find themselves in their initial predicament.

This happened with me. I found my main character running for his house as fast as he could, because he knew if he didn’t get there soon, his wife and son would die. Naturally, I asked him three questions: Who would want to kill them? Why did they want his family dead? And why was he running instead of using a faster mode of transport? In a short time, I had my plot for A QUESTION OF WILL, and enough material for three books after that. And then some.

So get those random ideas down on paper. You may find you have the next great publishing success story on your hands. You won’t know until you try, though.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to go write.