I stumbled across another example of where the ideas come from for the stories I create, so I thought I would write a “Part 2” to yesterday’s post answering that question asked by folks who still believe there is some super-secret source writers use. I’ll just add that I read this morning that when Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was asked the “ideas” question he did give a much more entertaining answer. It changed occasionally, but he usually explained that he made an annual vacation trip to Switzerland where he would hike up the mountain to a small village made up of very unusual people. He only spent about 4 hours there, but always came back with enough ideas to get him through the year. After reading that, I’ve decided I really need to ramp-up my answer. But until I do, let me give you another example of where my ideas come from.
Did you know that oysters close during a full moon? I didn’t. I also didn’t know that the full moon also made the Sea Louse get really excited. I read about it HERE. I might not have paid any attention to that if I hadn’t just read another article last week about how smart cephalopods are; you know…things like squid, and cuttlefish. Did you see the movie Finding Dory? The animated movie that has the really smart octopus named Hank help fish Dory and friends search for her parents. Well, in real life, the squid’s name was Inky, and back in 2016 he escaped from his tank in a New Zealand aquarium, crawled through the building and a drain pipe and found his way to the ocean. I read it HERE, and after reading about the oysters today, I got to thinking…what if?
What if the reality was that we humans aren’t really the most intelligent critters on this big ball? Sure, we’re smarter at doing the things that humans do, but maybe that isn’t the true measure of intelligence? What if we’ve got those oysters, or squid, or dolphins, or whales, or cockroaches, getting together wherever those things get together and they just laugh and laugh at how silly we really are? Yeah, I smell an idea or two.
The first thought might be to think about something sci-fi, or another fantasy piece. But, for a bit more challenge, can you think of ways we might use this idea of intelligent critters in a “real” story, not a Jaws kind of thing, or another of those where the smart bugs get together and try to wipe us away. But what about a story where, somehow, the intelligence critter is a key factor in resolving the suspense/thriller, or they somehow communicate something to demonstrate they, too, have a few concerns about global warming or leaky oil rigs? What could the story be if we had the intelligent squid, oyster, or cockroach as a viable character, right there along our usual ones?
What if? If you come up with something, I’d love to hear it! I won’t steal it. Really! Besides, I just read this other article about a company that had created an algorithm to help them target market their customers, and they just discovered that it appears the algorithm has somehow re-written itself to improve the company’s bad marketing plan. The thing re-wrote ITSELF! That has me thinking…what if?
