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May 29th, 2007

Advice on having ideas

cartoon ideas

No-one knows where good ideas come from. You can go back to the place that you had the last idea in the same frame of mind and order the same coffee and the likelihood is that you will just stare out of the window with a blank sheet of paper.

The harder you try to have a good idea the less likely you are to have one. But then again if you stop trying to have an idea then you probably won’t have one either. I find the best approach is somewhere in between. Put in a bit of half-hearted effort every now and then and try to trick your brain into having a good idea when it is not expecting you to.

Of course not-really-that-funny ideas are ten a penny, or you can get a bumper pack for a pound. I have notebooks full of the things.

I try to save my very best ideas and not use them all up at the same time. I draw a cartoon based on my second best idea hoping that the best idea will keep for a rainy day. Unfortunately a lot of ideas dilute over time. Some of the goodness fades in the sunlight. When you write them down in the notebook they are fresh and alive, but when you open up the notebook the following morning they aren’t quite as funny as they first appeared.

Sometimes an idea will come to you at a point at which it is not socially acceptable to write it down. You have the choice of either (a) Committing it to memory knowing that that will probably be the last you hear of it (b) Break the taboo knowing that the idea was worth the cost of being thrown out of the Society for ideas writing at an inappropriate juncture (c) Make some shifty notes under the table cloth.

In the comments section of this post I propose we have an ideas amnesty. You can write ideas here with no fear that anyone will ridicule you. You can ask for ideas, suggest ideas or harvest ideas. They can be about anything – they don’t have to be cartoon ideas. It doesn’t matter how rubbish they are. Of course, some of the worst ideas are also the best ones. It is just that we are looking at them upside down.

28 Comments »



This is a single Cartoon Blog entry, posted by Dave on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 10:23 pm.

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28 Responses to “Advice on having ideas”


  1. Nathan says:

    I haven’t had an idea to write in my blog for 3 weeks now. Maybe if someone challenged me to write about something tricky that would stimulate me.

    May 30th, 2007 at 12:03 am
  2. Aaron says:

    If you’ve just been ordained to the transitional diaconate and have a priest’s stole that you don’t want to sew or pin together because you eventually want to use it as a priest, and you think tying it looks tacky…do up your alb cincture like a priest’s, with the two loops, then turn the whole cincture sideways so that the loops are on your right hip. Then put the stole over your left shoulder and feed the ends through the loops. Viola! A deacon-style stole that hasn’t been ruined for your priestly ordination in a few months.

    May 30th, 2007 at 3:26 am
  3. Anne says:

    I’m with Nathan. I haven’t had a good idea since May 9th. I attribute part of this to the fact that I’ve given up smoking. I thought my brain would work better with all that new oxygen getting to it, but it may be in a state of shock. I do have a fancy new notebook called a Moleskine, and I’m supposed to be using it to write all my good ideas down. It’s so fancy, though, that I’m afraid my ideas may not be worthy of it. Sigh.

    May 30th, 2007 at 4:27 am
  4. jody says:

    my great and wonderful idea is not to spend much time today writing random posts on other people’s blogs – this is due to the fact that I have an essay to write today, I have all the notes, I have the ideas, it is just the thing which needs to be written.

    unfortunately this idea has already been thwarted by the fact that in order to write the essay I need to turn on the computer……

    May 30th, 2007 at 7:39 am
  5. jody says:

    now I’m wondering what it is that I wrote that needs moderating…..

    May 30th, 2007 at 7:40 am
  6. Carta e penna « Marketing For Nerds says:

    [...] A volte basterebbe poco… da: cartoonchurch.com [...]

    May 30th, 2007 at 7:53 am
  7. Phil G says:

    Have you cut your hair?

    May 30th, 2007 at 8:55 am
  8. fv_ineffable says:

    I need ideas about what to ask people to get me for my birthday. Relatives, close friends, offsprings – those types of folk. It’s in a couple of days, and typically I wouldn’t ask anyone to spend over fifteen quid. And not CDs. Can anyone help?
    (p.s. thanks Dave for opening this post up for useless oiks like me to hijack)

    May 30th, 2007 at 9:42 am
  9. JT says:

    I’m not sure if this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, but here is my idea. You know how the flashers on BMWs rarely work? My idea is that we find out who the engineer is who is responsible for the design of the flashers at BMW. We all go to his (or indeed her) house to do helpful things, like mow the lawn, clean the oven, do a PC backup, oil the squeaky door hinge, or whatever. He/she can then work late without feeling guilty and fully concentrate on designing flashers that work at every roundabout.

    Unfortunately it’s a very long way to Munich, and I don’t really want to do any whatever-ing. Apart from that I think it’s a go-er.

    May 30th, 2007 at 10:06 am
  10. Sam says:

    It’s not an idea, but I like the fact that this post is filed under both “Utter nonsense” and “Profound”.

    May 30th, 2007 at 11:31 am
  11. Jack the Lass says:

    Dave, that cartoon is a very scarily accurate depiction of the current state of my PhD. Argh.

    May 30th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
  12. jody says:

    have finished essay and now am free to write utter nonsense if I so choose.

    ummmm

    awwww flurburt

    May 30th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
  13. Russ says:

    Here’s my idea for this afternoon: do not just write your ideas down on random bits of paper. They get lost. Or people throw them away, saying things like ‘I didn’t think there was anything important on it’. Instead, once you’re near your computer, type them in on a document, and also save it on any external drive you might have. So there’ll be less chance you’ll lose it if/when technology goes belly up. You could also try having a notebook (or PDA if you’re a techie) just for ideas, but you still have to remember to take it with you when you go out. Or ensure someone hasn’t thrown it away, saying things like ‘I didn’t think there was anything important in it’. Not that it’s ever happened to me, you understand.

    May 30th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
  14. Jaded for Jesus says:

    Here are a few ideas about having ideas:-

    1. Don’t feel under pressure to have ideas. (That’s easier said than done, and a particularly annoying suggestion when you’re working to deadline. Sorry.)

    2. Have notebooks all over the house/in various pockets for when great ideas strike. I agree with Anne that Moleskine notebooks are particularly nice, but the fact that similar were used by Van Gogh, Hemingway et al can be inhibiting. Remember that a few of them are probably being used for nothing greater than posh shopping lists in places like Chelsea, and that should help redress the balance.

    3. Take exercise – even just a 20 minute walk. Moderate exercise does amazing things for your grey matter. You also spot things while you’re out which might kick off ideas.

    4. Read what other people do to get their ideas – useful snippets can be found in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook and places like this: http://knackeredhack.com/2007/03/04/facing-the-great-white/

    May 30th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
  15. Jane E. says:

    Let’s email Seth McFarlane for adding more stewie laughs to family guy!

    Oh wait… is that an idea or a suggestion?

    :ppppp

    May 30th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
  16. ruth says:

    OK, I like this sort of thing. You did say we could say rubbish stuff – and here goes. Your post got me to wondering what I’d do if I had to produce a funny church-related cartoon, say for our church magazine. It’s extremely hard to think of anything – how do you do it?

    Well, I can’t think of a cartoon (sorry about that and, again, well done you for all of yours). But I do think that a greater comic mind than mine might be able to show the potential humour in all the curtains that you get everywhere in a church building – curtains across arches, across doorways, to cover the side of the organ, small ones to hide little cupboards, like where the reserve sacrament is stored… I dunno… is it funny? At all? Possibly? (We’re soon to put a new curtain up in our church – across yet another arch. Apparently there’s a draft comes through that arch and a curtain is needed).

    I’ll get me coat.

    May 30th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
  17. Simon Heron says:

    I thought a cartoon involving mistaking Oak Hill the well known Theological College and Oak Hall the well known Christian dating agency holiday company.

    I tried to write a joke about it on my blog, but failed miserably.

    Dave – over to you.

    May 30th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
  18. mompriest says:

    I avoided writing a newsletter for the parish since September 2006. After six years of writing the whole thing I had no idea what to write anymore. No wit. No humor. No insight. Nothing.

    Anyway, now I’m having a go at it again. But it will be a “Summer Edition” just one double sided page to cover the whole summer. I hope to have it ready before August.

    May 31st, 2007 at 3:45 am
  19. joe says:

    I think it would be a jolly fine idea if Windows would stop sending me updates for programs I don’t have.

    May 31st, 2007 at 9:14 am
  20. Michelle says:

    I thought the Vicar of Dibley had a very good idea in making dog collars from Fairy Liquid bottles – I wonder what other ecclesiastical clothing I could make from household junk?

    May 31st, 2007 at 10:21 am
  21. Kate P says:

    My idea is to buy a folding hanging rail so I can put all the ironing on it as I do it. Yesterday I did so much ironing that I ran out of doorways to hang shirts in. I’m a recent convert to ironing, so maybe I’m a bit over-enthusiastic.

    May 31st, 2007 at 10:21 am
  22. Neil says:

    I have an idea for a hat, which is also a car.

    May 31st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
  23. Russ says:

    What, a Triumph Fedora? I thought of that ages ago, but the brim ruins your wind resistance. The Ford Trilby has promise, and I’m told can run on tweed.

    May 31st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
  24. Philip of Samaria says:

    Cast your cartoons upon the waters and after many days they will return to you (’unto you’ if you’re anglican or SB)

    May 31st, 2007 at 10:45 pm
  25. Russ says:

    5 cartoon ideas for you, Dave:

    1 If your church was a cheese, what kind would it be, and why?
    2 If the Big Brother house was entirely comprised of church leaders, who should we put in?
    3 What should the CofE do to stop Blair jumping ship?
    4 The inner thoughts of the church organ
    5 What kneelers do in their spare time …

    Over to you, matey

    June 1st, 2007 at 10:49 am
  26. Philip of Samaria says:

    Oh yes please dave – like the cheese

    Ours is definintely a ripe brie – very soft inside, a not very clean looking rind and a smell that takes getting used to to be appreciated

    June 1st, 2007 at 9:21 pm
  27. Nathan says:

    I finally managed to write a blog this morning. All I needed was a little encouragement from a friend who said he enjoyed reading them and missed them.

    A life-lesson for all of us I think.

    So Dave, I thoroughly enjoy your cartoons and your blogs and it is the only blog I check on a near daily basis it is that good.

    June 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 am
  28. Marcus says:

    Sorry this is late. Just catching up….

    As it would happen, I just had an idea the other day on the way to a coffee shop. Because I keep a Moleskine notebook in my pocket I was able to write it down and blog it later:

    It was pouring down with rain as I walked, but fortunately I had an umbrella. Unfortunately for quite a few other people I passed they didn’t. I did offer to accompany a young lady with my umbrella, but she was going the other way (she said).

    Anyway, here’s an idea I had for promoting your organisation/business/club/church/whatever: You could have umbrellas made with your logo printed on it plus some words like, “This umbrella is given to you for free. Please pass it on to someone else who may need it after you.” That way you’re not only promoting your organisation, but generally being nice too.

    June 2nd, 2007 at 1:49 pm