I was at the National Zoo, and I looked down into an enclosure and thought, "What if I put some zerglings in there? Could I keep them in?" (They are ferocious alien pack-hunters from a video game.) I went back to the hotel and started thinking about that. I needed a zoo-keeper, clearly. I wrote a first scene where her boss tells her she has to get the exhibit ready, and then she and I brainstormed the exhibit security.
I thought it was a short story, but they never are for me. I got to the "end" and it wasn't the end (in fact that was about 1/3 of the eventual novel, and boy was I surprised where it went next. 1/3 of a novel was never going to have been a short story anyway).
Years ago an agent told me he didn't want my fantasy novel but if I'd write SF, he'd look at it. So I know I'm not capable of writing a story "of a particular genre" with nothing else to go on: I spent quite some time thinking about that, to no avail. Evidently I had to go to the Zoo.
I was at the National Zoo, and I looked down into an enclosure and thought, "What if I put some zerglings in there? Could I keep them in?" (They are ferocious alien pack-hunters from a video game.) I went back to the hotel and started thinking about that. I needed a zoo-keeper, clearly. I wrote a first scene where her boss tells her she has to get the exhibit ready, and then she and I brainstormed the exhibit security.
I thought it was a short story, but they never are for me. I got to the "end" and it wasn't the end (in fact that was about 1/3 of the eventual novel, and boy was I surprised where it went next. 1/3 of a novel was never going to have been a short story anyway).
Years ago an agent told me he didn't want my fantasy novel but if I'd write SF, he'd look at it. So I know I'm not capable of writing a story "of a particular genre" with nothing else to go on: I spent quite some time thinking about that, to no avail. Evidently I had to go to the Zoo.
Ideas can be very tricky about how long they are.