Suzanne confesses: It came to me in the shower!
Everyone knows I get my best ideas in the shower or when my talented hairstylist, Michael Angelo, is working magic on my unruly curls. So that's the question I posed this week: Where do you get your ideas...literally?
JEAN BRASHEAR
There's no consistent place I get my ideas. It can be anywhere from driving down the road or sitting at a stoplight to exercising on my elliptical cross-trainer or walking through a department store. (I can literally still feel the shiver--good, sexy shiver--that ran over me when a tall guy in a long duster walked past me in a store. I turned, and he had vanished, but I built a story about a sorcerer from it.)
And seldom, once the book is done, can I remember where the original seed came from because the actual story always ranges so far from that beginning point. People watching, though, is a big part of it--the insistent urge, when presented with a shutter-quick glimpse of a person, a couple, a situation, to fill in the backstory on how they got there, what they're doing, and what might come next.
Jean's next release is SWEET MERCY, (story of Gamble Smith of her Signature MERCY), Harlequin Superromance, April 2006. www.jeanbrashear.com
SHIRLEY JUMP
My best ideas come in the car when I'm talking with my kids. We're joking about something that happened at school or something we saw on TV and one of us will say something that will take my brain off on another tangent and bam, an idea is born. Sometimes, I'll brainstorm with my seventh grader (the tame parts of the book :-) because she and I watch a lot of the same shows and have the same taste in a lot of things, so she's a great brainstorm partner.
I also do a lot of plotting while driving alone. I talk out loud to myself as I drive (which probably worries anyone in a nearby car :-) and just by having that self conversation, I work out a lot of ideas to see if they're worth pursuing. And of course, I'll cheer and do the driver's seat Snoopy dance when I strike on something especially brilliant ;-)
Shirley's latest release is THE BACHELOR PREFERRED PASTRY, Zebra Books, February 2006. www.shirleyjump.com
CURTISS ANN MATLOCK
I was just thinking about this the other day. I get my best ideas while washing dishes, then comes things that I overhear while standing in the Walmart checkout line, and experiences I have-- such as the great pantyhose debate my sisters-in-law and I had with my mother-in-law.
Do you wear panties under your pantyhose? Discussion of the matter has proved delightfully entertaining, as well as enlightening. Like the woman who said: "Yes, unless I'm out with my husband." Made a great scene in my upcoming book. I'm going to have a pantyhose poll at my site. So far we are sitting at 4 Without and 28 With. We're counting those who say they wear thongs as a With.
Curtiss Ann's next release: CHIN UP, HONEY, Mira Books, October 2006. www.curtissannmatlock.com.
CANDACE SCHULER
Hm…where do I get my best ideas? Several places. On vacation. I can't tell you how many times I've been wandering around someplace new (usually lost) or gone someplace I've been before but at a different time of the year/season/day and seen something in a different light or in a different way that evokes a mood that sparks some synapse in my brain that becomes an idea that leads to a story.
At any sporting event. I'm not a sports fan, so if for some reason I find myself at a sporting event and I haven't got a book—or it would be impolite to read the one I brought with me—I stare at the playing field like I'm paying attention and daydream. Some really good story ideas have come from daydreaming during playoff games.
Standing in line. You know, you're in a long, interminable line at the bank or the hardware store, and you can either eavesdrop on the conversation going on behind you or let your mind wander. Unless the conversation is really juicy, I usually tune it out and let my mind wander. If the line is r-e-a-l-l-y long, I amuse myself by making up stories about the people standing in line with me. This activity has lead to some useable story ideas.
While I'm cooking. Cooking is a very creative process for me and one type of creativity often leads to another. Ditto gardening.
Candace's latest release is THE COWBOY WAY, Harlequin Blaze, April 2005. Coming soon/working title: FOR THE THRILL OF IT www.candaceschuler.com
Inquiring minds want to know: Where are you when you do your best thinking?
Cheers!
Suzanne
2 Comments:
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Most of my story ideas (and they have stay just that...ideas) have all come to me sitting in class. While the professor is yammering on about investigational techniques, I sit in the front row, looking at him, but really thinking about the next plot twist in my story.
In classes, in one year I have thought of four ideas for stories.
The other place that ideas have struck me is while hanging out with friends. We are a loud bunch and pretty much do not care what people think of us or how we act...Some of my characters seem to have that personality.
Laying in bed is another great place of inspiration. My roommates will be fast asleep and I am laying wide awake thinking of the days events and how I can make that work into a possible story line. - MathCogIdiocy said...
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This morning was a good example of where my "writing" comes from. I finished the research and reread the instructions for the paper last night, but the writing was pretty well stalled. I woke up this morning with virtually the whole paper in my mind and just finished the actual typing of the first draft. This is pretty ordinary. I wake up with an idea and then work it out in the shower, while driving the car, and sometimes at work since the job doesn't require a lot of conscious attention. *grin*
Jacqui
posted at 4:23 PM
