Seeds of Inspiration
First, let me take a moment to thank Ms. Delilah Devlin for inviting me to guest post on her blog. I cannot express enough my gratitude for her selfless support for those of us striving to amp up our writing successes. You’ve made all the difference, Delilah, and you are much appreciated.
Now, what I thought I’d talk about today are those triggers that spark our story ideas. So many times readers express their amazement on how writers come up with all these great story ideas.
I’m not sure why it baffles them so much. You’d think real life wasn’t strange enough to provide an endless stream of ideas. Really?
Anyway, I thought I’d throw a few of mine out there, and then maybe you could add some of yours. If nothing else, it should be entertaining. If we’re lucky, this conversation will spark something in those of us searching for our next great seedling.
My current WIP began when I watched a Sunday afternoon Lifetime Network Movie about a girl who pretended to be pregnant for a school project. Lately, the notion of broken couples reuniting has been a burning theme in my soul. Thus, Parent Project is born. This one’s still in the early stage, but you can probably imagine where I’m going with it.
Shaken Vows merely began with a brief conversation between our hunky sheriff and my husband at the gas pump while I sat in the truck observing, and conjured up all kinds of possibilities.
On another occasion, for hours I stared at a white page on a pathetically blank screen. Nothing seemed to be working that day. So, I thought about the books I’ve read, and what made the exceptional ones memorable. Searching through my bookcase, I pulled out a novel that I remember had brought me great joy. This was when they used paper with the printed words on the pages. Ancient, I know.
The scene opened with the hero walking in on his fiancé in bed with another. So, sparked Reckless Dreams. Of course, it’s my own story, with a completely different plot, but the seed came from one of my favorite novels.
Then, of course, we had a fire next door. A boatload of hunky firefighters, cops, and other officials came to the scene. Before the embers burned down, Familiar Flames began germinating.
That’s enough about me, and mine. How about letting us know what sparks your ideas. Who knows, it could boost those creative juices in all of us.
Hope you enjoyed my post, and I look forward to hearing what you think.
Thanks again, Delilah, for having me. It’s great being part of your circle of friends!
Please come visit me anytime at my place. I would love to have you:
Joyce
https://joycepalmer.net
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I’m new to the writing part of this and I use to do it for some of my friends on a gaming site. I’m not there yet but I get ideas in almost everything i do. Most of the story ideas can be just seeded from a line in a song and the story just grows from there like a tree. I also combine ideas to make a story. I love women in uniform so I have a WIP from when I was in the army and of course at that time lesbians would be kicked out if found out. I also have WIP of all women in uniform from EMT to police women. I listen to all kinds of music so anything can spark an idea and anywhere. I even write ideas while I’m doing other things. Just yesterday I was working in the garden and had to take out my post-its and write them out. Even a picture somewhere can spark a seed and there grows the tree every growing until it is mature enough.
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Hi Joyce,
Wait, can you talk about the hunky firefighters again? 😀
Best of luck with your latest release.
Janice~
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Thank you Deb. Sounds like you have quite the imagination. Just what it takes to come up with a winning story. Best of luck to you, and thanks for stopping by.
Janice, so good to see you here. I value our friendship and wish you much luck with finding a home for your big alien story. You’ve worked really hard and I pray your effort will pay off for you. Thanks so much for stopping by.
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What inspires me – anything and everything. I was on a blog and my publisher commented that he thought my latest was more of an medieval fantasy – and the next thing I knew I had dragons flying around in my head and my current WIP is a medieval fantasy.
Best of luck with sales. Books sound great.
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I’ve sent Delilah fanmail before! hehehe Her’s was the first ebook I bought off the internet. Joyce – staring at that blank screen bites! I’d much rather stare at sexy firemen. Best wishes on your writing career.
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What sparks my ideas? Anything and everything. 😉 It doesn’t take much for me to come up with an idea. I just have to be picky about what ideas I decide to run with. lol
Congratulations on your release!
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Daryl, I know what you mean about a mere comment inspiring an idea. That’s great the remark from your publisher on a blog sparked your medieval, and I wish you much success with the story. I was hoping something in this post might do that for someone. Thank you very much for stopping by and adding your thoughts.
Sheri, Yes, Delilah is an inspiration to us all. When she mentions the year she and her sister started on this journey, and you see how far they’ve come, it’s encouraging. Wish we could all be so smart and talented! As long as we’re striving, that’s a good thing. Thank you for stopping by.
Stacey, Yes, I agree that all our ideas need not be put on paper. Thank goodness our minds are private places! 😳 Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your comment.
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I’m with ya, EVERYTHING inspires me! A casual friend said
something bizarro about her sister’s boob job yesterday and I
raced home to add it to my Fragment File, which is where I put
all those snippets that make our stories so unique and memorable.
We are so lucky as writers to be able to weave ideas
together. It’s a puzzle and I really love it. I’m finishing up a
second book, Squinting Over Water – Stories and I decided to
include an Epilogue giving my readers a bit of my own
backstory. I think readers really like hearing that stuff.
It came out so well, I was really really proud of myself.
Delilah is a great person. I learned so much in January in her
online writing class. So thank you both for the treat…
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Thank you, Mary, for stopping by and for your enlightening comments. I wish you much success with your Squinting Over Water stories.
The Roses workshops are great. I’ve learned a lot from them as well, and highly recommend the plotting bootcamp, particularly.
Thanks again, for your comment.