Sometimes, when Brian runs out of steam (and occasionally punk) I look back through an old Word Document that seems to have been around since the dawn of Brian. It's called simply Ideas and is a pretty random collection of odd ideas (the name's a dead giveaway), interesting words / titles, odd news articles, strange pictures and occasional paragraphs of half written weirdidity - and occasional made up words like that one. 

So, what the heck am I waffling on about today? No idea. It's #Wattpadwednesday and I thought I'd just let my fingers loose and see what happens. Right, so what's in the depths of Ideas then Brian?

Well, we have little bits like this...

"The Collector wasn't alone. The cat sat looking at him from the shadows, its eyes and a vague outline the only thing visible in the near darkness of the old shop."

and...

"I hate being a tooth fairy."

and...

"Re-Boot - The universe is broken, how do i fix it? Have you tried turning it off and switching it back on again?"

Now, assuming the universe doesn't come with a retractable cup holder (CD tray) and that I've not actually been a tooth fairy in a previous life / dream / delusional state brought on by drinking too much coffee, and having no idea what the Collector was collecting (cats maybe?), what the hell was I on about?

And then you have even less useful little notes like "Kitchen Gnomes". What in the name of Douglas Adams was I on about with that one?

Some of the little notes I've chucked at that document have become stories, some longer than others and some simply living as Wybbles or Drabbles or other bits of random oddity. 

So, what's the point of this? I'm not sure there is one other than don't throw away ideas; squirrell them away, keep them, love them, wonder what the hell was in your coffee when you wrote them down maybe. But, don't erase them, give them away or let them gather dust, as sometimes that little one-liner or sentence of oddity can develop into something kinda cool at some point in the not-so-distant future. 

For example, a picture of a head with what looked like lots of circuitry embedded in it eventually became a short story called Wired which eventually won me the Grand Prix: a contest held by @ChallengeCorner here on Wattpad. The picture had been sitting there for quite a while and it didn't become a story until the prompt in the competition combined rather nicely with the disembodied head I had on file in Ideas. 

I've heard it said by many of the folk in the Industry Insider club "never throw anything away" and that's true of old versions of stories too. Save your rough draft, never save over it. The great thing about hoarding chunks of text is that they don't take up much room these days. 

Oh, and always back up your stuff. Intentionally removing something is one thing, but losing it through not having a back up is soul destroying.

And almost finally, a quote from Richard Harris "Cut your manuscript ruthlessly but never throw anything away: it's amazing how often a discarded scene or description, which wouldn't fit in one place, will work perfectly later."

And now for something completely different...

God in a bucket, the ultimate cleanser of floors

Thank you Brian, I have absolutely no idea what that meant either...