Where Ideas Come From

The second most frequently asked question my students pose(after, of course, how do I get my work published) is, where do ideas come from?
I am not a big fan of "The Muse." That almost miraculous blast of divine prompting from the universe is pretty rare, if you ask me. If I waited for my muse to show up before I sat down to write, I'd probably never have written much besides a few brilliant sentences. Maybe one or two amazing paragraphs. And anyway, my muse scares me. She is no sweet Pre-Raphaelite beauty floating around above me spouting perfectly constructed, shining prose. She is more akin to Medusa of the writhing snake hair, screaming at me, bonking me over the head with creepy images. I'm kind of glad she doesn't show up more. It's probably the same for 99% of writers. Stephen King likens his muse to a fat, balding old guy sitting in the basement smoking big smelly cigars. Thankfully, a muse is not usually in order for producing fine ideas for your writing. Great characters, plot lines, dialogue and descriptive narration mostly come from paying attention to your own unique and gorgeous and frightening and silly life. Or the similarly-attributed lives of those around you. The bases of my writing classes are 1) paying attention to the world around you, 2)writing down your observations, and 3)structuring your scribblings into some kind of readable, and hopefully enjoyable, form. If you practice running these three bases consistently, eventually you will start hitting home runs (pardon the baseball analogy, the Red Sox just won the series after all). So, keep observing. Take notes. Carry index cards to jot down those weird converations you overhear in the checkout line at Stop & Shop, so you can note just exactly what colors the flaming autumn trees take on in rainy light, or the softness of your husband's snores like a distant truck on the highway. Because that's where ideas come from. They are all around you, every day.