The Real LJ Idol Season 9 Week 8: "Yes, and"

[puppetmaker]

My husband is a New York Times best selling author and published writer of stuff. My daughter is a published author. I am a published author and have, among other things, a Dr. Who short story published by Big Finish. I honestly went the other day and wrote down my writing credits and it was more than I thought I had in a number of venues.

We are a family of tellers of tales. We are wordsmiths that take language and mold it into new stories and adventures.

I have been bouncing story ideas off of Peter for about as long as I have known him and he has done the same with me. It is as natural as breathing around here.

‘That sucks’ is not something you will hear often around here. If it is said, then honestly the idea is not a viable one. Rather you will either hear “yes, but” or “yes, and” with that the story grows.

There are a couple of things that I have come up with that Peter has run with to great success.

A number of years ago I was in the kitchen cooking and Peter came in with that look on his face that he was thinking about something pretty hard. His editor at Marvel came to him with the suggestion to do a mini-series with Jamie Maddrox, the multiple man. Basically Jamie’s power is that with enough kinetic energy he can duplicate himself thus, rather than fighting one person, you could find yourself fighting twenty. Not as sexy as bone claws but there you go. He was trying to figure out something interesting to do with a guy who’s power is to create more of himself.

We chatted for a bit about Maddrox’s history and the like when I got an idea.

“What if Madrox had multiple personality disorder? What if each ‘Maddrox’ was a piece of his psyche?”

We starting passing that idea back and forth and by the end of it Peter had the whole miniseries plotted out. It changed in the process but I came up with the idea that lead to a whole lot of yes and.

I named a Ben 10 alien. Peter came to me with a drawing and said, “We need to name this character because the one we had is copyright another company.” He told me the character’s powers. It was a big turtle with wind powers. I immediately said, “Terraspin because turtles are terrapins and he spins to create the wind.”

Peter and I have a property that is being shopped around. It has almost been made more than once. It started as a pitch for Comedy Central and has morphed into a couple of other things. It is currently called Headcases and the basic pitch line is Cheers with superheroes and villains. That has been a lot of ‘yes, and’ work on our part. We had to come up with the whole set up, all the characters, and situations that our characters find themselves in. Still hope that it sees the light of day because it is a pretty neat show.

I have a couple of ideas that I need to actually turn into prose. I have discussed them with Peter and we have spent time refining them. One of my goals for this year is to get the oldest one done. The ideas are easy. Working them out is fun. Writing them is a pain but feels great once I get it done.

Living in a creative household is amazing. Not having your ideas shot down immediately is wonderful. Working on being productive with those ideas can be hard but very rewarding in many ways.

‘Yes, and’ is a great way to build an idea rather than tear it down.

I hope you have enjoyed my essay this week and will consider it during the vote.

Comments

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

This is a strong essay and is both a testament to bouncing ideas off a person you trust but who is also empowered with the positive use of "yes, and"! Nicely done.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I know that I am very lucky to have someone who encourages my ideas.

[similiesslip.livejournal.com]

I love that your whole family supports each other's ideas and wants to be creative. That's wonderful!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

One of the many reasons that I love my husband.

[uncawes.livejournal.com]

I never expected to see a real world response to this week's topic.

It blew my mind. Thank you so much for sharing this

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

May I ask why you were not expecting real world responses?

[uncawes.livejournal.com]

Sure.
I had to think about this for a bit, but it's not that complicated.

Personal experience, and the topic being basically comedy.
I'm a published author. Many of my friends are published authors.
I have always had support and encouragement from my friends, including some new ones I've made since joining Idol this season.

But, I have never had support from my ex. Afaik, she's never even read anything I've had published.
Deadly sin or not, I envy you the nurturing environment you get to work in

Add to that the topic being a comedy theme and I was expecting to see a lot of Carol Burnett and that era. With some "whose line is it anyway" thrown in.

[i-17bingo.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! You're married to Peter David? He was my number-one inspiration when I started writing as a teenager. Even when I "grew out of comics" as a college freshman and sold my whole collection (eighteen-year-olds are assholes and idiots), I held onto all of his. I owned a collected edition of But I Digress... and reread it until the cover fell off. A line from early on in his first run on X-Factor ("What if he blinks really hard?") literally makes me chuckle every time I remember it, even twenty-something years later.

I sincerely apologize for all the fanboy gushing. I'm embarassing myself.

*ahem*

So my wife had a really vague idea for a novel and the world it's set in, but she doesn't think of herself as a writer. Her husband, on the other hand, has been writing since he was thirteen, and he wants to help her see her vision on a page (I've dedicated this season of Idol to building up that world with little vignettes). And so now, we find ourselves in bed or in a car, with me asking her questions about details I can weave into the story. She really has a brilliant, imaginative mind, and our "Yes, and" sessions are some of the best times we have together.

In short, having a creative partner--particularly a creative life-partner--is the best.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

No worries. I have fangirled about Peter over the years too.

Yes, having someone who supports you creatively is the best.

We do some our best work in the car on long drives.

[eternal-ot.livejournal.com]

Wow..this is an amazing work environment...the world would be a better place if everyone applies...:)Loved it!

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I agree. It is a good place to be.

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

A creative environment is golden. AW

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Yes it is. Encouragement is great too.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

What a productive answer to the question "yes and...?"

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. And thanks for reading.

[kagomeshuko.livejournal.com]

Good critical critique is an important part of writing. I've had such trouble finding it at times. I'm always glad to have it, though.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

it is important and can stop one from going in a total dead end direction. Thanks for reading.

[shimmerdream.livejournal.com]

This is a really well-written essay and I love the conclusion.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

Love the Icon

[mistearyusdiva2.livejournal.com]

Touch wood ....

" Living in a creative household is amazing. Not having your ideas shot down immediately is wonderful. Working on being productive with those ideas can be hard but very rewarding in many ways. "

Would it hurt you to say I am a little envious here .... hehe ...

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

No, I know I am very lucky.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

What a neat environment for developing! I also really love the idea of self-cloning that has that sub-personality-spawning side-effect. That would make for incredibly interesting stories.

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

If you read the Maddrox mini-series, you'll see what we did with it.

Thanks for reading.

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

How cool that you live in a house full of authors! It must be nice having that support!

[kajel.livejournal.com]

I have that with my husband also. The ability to bounce ideas and watch them grow between us. Nicely done.

[faerie-spark.livejournal.com]

Living in a creative house *is* amazing! My partner and I regularly share ideas. Thanks for this glimpse into your world.

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Teamwork! You can get a lot done with multiples.

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Neat to see some of your creative process! It's interesting that your opening paragraph is all about establishing your credentials. As a writer myself, I also feel like I have to wave my resume around all the time to be taken seriously - I'm glad I'm not the only one!