The story on National Public Radio transfixed me. I was driving to my daughter’s a couple of hours away and I hung on to every word. I even stayed sitting in the parking lot several minutes to make sure I caught it to the end. It was an interview of Paul McCartney by Terry Gross, on All Things Considered.
Paul was on the show to talk about his two-volume collector’s item called “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” which he launched on November 2. In it, he shares the lyrics he composed while performing with the Beatles, and the inspiration behind them.
For example, he dreamed the melody to “Yesterday.” Woke up one morning and ran it past John Lennon to make sure he hadn’t just heard it somewhere else. How amazing would that be to dream up a whole melody? And then he wrote the lyrics to fit the melody. And then he wrote the lyrics to fit it.
Which brings me to inspiration for your NaNoWriMo story. I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to choose what story to write for NaNo. There are always so many competing ideas in my head, coming at me from everywhere.
And if you’re still trying to choose what story to write, here are some ideas:
1.If you have a dream, write it down.
2.Read newspaper articles and jot down headlines that catch your attention.
3.Write in a genre you’ve never written before.
4.Write a fictional journal entry every day during the month from a character you inherently wouldn’t get along with.
5.Pick a setting where you’ve traveled to recently.
6.Make up a character who’s exactly the opposite of you and have them “tell” you their story in a few paragraphs.
7.Write down your story ideas in a notebook.
My current NaNo story was inspired by a ranch cattle branding day I was able to go on late summer this year. And it is a spin-off from side characters in my current cowboy romance series.
So, paperback writer…what inspired your NaNo story?
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