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It's Day Two of Where Do You Get Your Ideas week, and I'm really excited about this one, because I get to talk about Hate List and am even goint to post a little snippet of a chapter for you.


In some ways, this idea-generating method is very similar to the Montana Monday method I described yesterday, where a single name created such a strong a character in my head, the character actually created the story.


But where Trigger Tuesday is different is that I'm using the story in a poetic piece of writing to trigger a story of my own.

The first two sentences in Hate List are the following:


"We'll show the world they were wrong

And teach them all to sing along."


You may, of course, recognize that as the Nickelback song, "If Everyone Cared." And you may have heard me say before that in many ways that song was the inspiration behind Hate List.


Well, I don't know if it was so much "inspiration" as it was "trigger," in that the story told in the song triggered a story in my head. I could almost "see" the young lovers in this song as I listened to it, and was overcome with such a strong image of who they were and what they wanted, I simply had to write it down. What resulted was a story of two outcast kids who, when alone, wanted the world to be different. Kids who, at their heart, were glad to be alive and hopeful to make changes.


First, read the lyrics of "If Everyone Cared" here. As you read the lyrics, try to envision the story in your head. See the two lovers staring at the stars. Feel their pain. Their desire. Their feeling of invincibility. It's not just a song; it's a story. Or at least the beginning of one.


You can actually "see" the scene that the song evoked in my mind in Hate List. Check out the following snippet:


Nick reached out and grabbed my hand, leading me to the field behind my house. We found a clearing and sprawled on our backs in the grass, looking at the stars, talking about... anything, everything.


"You know why we get along so well, Val?" he asked after a whille. "Because we think just alike. It's like we have the same brain. It's cool."


I stretched, wrapping my leg around his. "Totally," I said. "Screw our parents. Screw their stupid fights. Screw everybody. Who gives a shit about them?"


...He turned to face me, propping himself up on an elbow. "it's good that we have each other," he said. "It's like, you know, even if the whole world hates you, you still have someone to rely on. Just the two of you against the whole world. Just us."


At the time, my thoughts had been so consumed with Mom and Dad and their incessant arguing, I'd just assumed we were talking about them. Nick knew exactly what I was going through -- he called his stepdad Charles his "Step du Jour" and talked about his mom's ever-changing love life as if it were some big joke. I'd had no idea he might have meant us against... everyone. "Yeah. Just us," I'd answered. "Just us."


It's not terribly unusual for a writer to use a piece of poetry or a song lyric or other piece of writing to trigger a story all their own. Poetic pieces are so full of imagery, it's almost easy to see the scene set, and very tempting to "finish" the story as you see it playing out.


Think of the songs or poems that most move you. The songs that tease up that little lump in your throat, bring tears to your eyes, make you think about things deep and feeling. Probably there's a story in that song for you. Probably you should tell it.