Where do authors get ideas for stories? So often at book events, people ask me
this question. I’m tempted to say it’s Divine inspiration, luck, or even something magical. But it’s not!! I have to admit that I can’t “force” an idea to come forward no matter how hard I try. There are some steps I take to help. And if I let the process work in the back of my brain—ideas do come out!
Here’s an example of how my first book, Reprisal started:
1. Often, I’ll start with a news story. Something that’s odd or unusual. If I find it interesting I assume a reader will also. In Minneapolis, there’d been a mysterious disappearance of several Somali boys. No one knew where they went for certain. The story sounded intriguing and it already contained a mystery. Here’s the link: http://starttribune.com/local/north/50654962.html
2. Separate from this news story, I had been thumbing through some books in the library about international plagues and chemical terrorism. I learned that the small pox virus had been eradicated from the planet in 1979. However, a small sample had been preserved in a lab in Russia. My thoughts rolled forward: what if a desperate Russian scientist stole the virus and sold it to a terrorist? Possible? For the purpose of a book—yes!!
3. I combined the two ideas above. Where do authors get ideas for writing? I don’t know why I combined the two, but it sounded good. A terrorist buys the sample of small pox and then kidnaps some Somali boys from Minneapolis in order to infect them with small pox. That would start a plague in the U.S. (there is no cure for small pox anymore)
From those two ideas I wrote the entire book. I added a larger mystery, some suspense, and a main character who must solve the case before she becomes a victim herself—a dead one!
So, where do authors get ideas for stories? Here’s another secret: we get them from readers! So many people have suggested great ideas to me for stories.
To be truthful, I often use my reader’s ideas. After all, they’re experts in the subject of mystery stories since they’ve read so many.
Do you have any ideas to share with me? Ideas that I could use in a story or new book? I’d love to hear about them.
