I've been thinking lately about ideas. Sometimes people say, "I have an idea. I just have to develop it." I think that's wrong. Ideas don't get developed. Ideas just are. They are complete in and of themselves. What needs to be developed is our expression of the idea.

I'm a writer. I write. I don't get published, unless you count this blog, and I don't. I am an unrecognized and unpaid writer. That's ok with me, because none of the things I love to do achieve recognition or payment, and I'm not in this life for the money. I must confess, I do enjoy recognition. I thrive on kudos as much or more than the average person.

Still, I started out this entry about ideas. Or, maybe Ideas. They say every story that can be told already has been. All we do now is find new ways of expressing ideas. Love, revenge, sacrifice, journey, coming of age... the list could be a lot longer.

Ideas are amazing. They're invisible, but so powerful that, in the minds of the wrong people, they can be devastating. On the other hand, they can bring enlightenment. Inquisition/Reformation, American Revolution/Stalin's rise to power, Love is All You Need/I'd Rather See You Dead, Little Girl than be with Another Man.

I'm working on a novel manuscript. Maybe this is obvious, or maybe it's strange. I don't know, but I think stories convey ideas. They aren't just stories. Even if the storyteller thinks he or she is only telling a story, essential truths are at work, either in the mind of the storyteller, the receiver of the tale, or both.

My first novel is about embracing who you are. My second is about how our judgments of one another shape our relationships. I have two in the works now that are just stories. I don't see a moral, or a myth, or a fairytale. I'm bogged down in the middle.

This happens to me every time. It's the crucial What is this story about, anyway? phase. I've considered some archetypes. Beauty and the Beast: Beauty's love saves the beast; King Kong: 'Twas Beauty killed the beast; The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Damn, don't they both die? I can't remember. Then there's the Christ figure, but that's been done. To death. Ha ha.

I don't know if I'm communicating with the world here, or trying to blog my way out of a slump. As I said in my title, I'm organizing the shelves in my mind. It's kind of funny. As I sit here typing, I can see this much of my title: Organizing the sh... I suppose you don't have to assume the next word is shelves. Another word would be just as appropriate, just not a word I use myself, unless I am completely alone and pissed off.

Ah well, I must soldier on. Scene after scene, building conflict until the point becomes clear. What idea am I expressing that I cannot yet see?