Ideas: Feast or Famine

Okay, why is it that ideas come in bunches?

I am currently finishing my final (and I do mean FINAL) edit of my solo novel, Forged by Betrayal, I am editing our fourth book in the Pathfinder series (which we are just finishing the rewrite of), I have 20,000 words or so done on another story that popped into my head in November and wouldn't go away and this morning... that's right, another story just popped into my head. Full blown, from beginning to end, characters, plot, setting, everything.

Why is it that when I have nothing on my plate I stare at a blank page and try to think of angry dinosaurs (my version of counting sheep for blocked writers) and nothing will form in my feeble brain but when I am too busy to do anything about it, I have stories popping into my head with music fanfares? I've heard of thinking about something else until you get the answer you're looking for but this is getting ridiculous. 

I once took a writing class where a student was hesitant to share his ideas for fear someone would steal them. The instructor (a NY Times bestselling author) told us that he had so many ideas, he’d never write a third of them. Later in the class he showed us how true that was by expanding on our ideas at the drop of a hat.

So my question is this. Is imagination strengthened with use? Do we function in the right brain or the left brain and get stuck in one spot?

I know that when I’m writing, or creating, I get thrown off by going back and editing. Editing is an analytical process and uses a different part of the brain than the creative process.  When I first started taking the series of writing classes with that instructor, the first rule he put in place was that we weren’t allowed to do any editing. Only writing. Editing would come later. It helped a lot. The ideas came easier.

Is that because we can strengthen our imagination and our creativity with use or because we slow ourselves down by switching back and forth from creativity to rationality?

I’m not sure what the answer is but I’m sure I like it when the ideas come out of the blue ahead of time and I don’t have to stare at blank pages and think of angry dinosaurs.

When that happens to you, make sure you write down all of the details before you forget. That way you’ll be prepared for that next blank page.

~Jeff