HOW WRITERS GET IDEAS?
Writing can be very odd. You are having a cup of coffee or are half asleep in the sun – and an idea floats into your head: an idea that two years later is a finished novel. Where such ideas come from is a mystery. Mystery or not grab onto them with both hands.
One example that might make the point here.
I was driving on a winter’s night when both the heater and the radio mysteriously stopped working at the same time. With little to distract me my mind started to wander. What if the true Crown-of-Thorns was discovered? And what if a tiny piece of mummified skin was found on one of the thorns? These two thoughts stayed with me for many miles. Then a third thought – what if scientists attempted to clone from this piece of skin? On the basis of these three ideas the novel – The Extraordinary Temptation – came into existence.
Note, I had no ideas what characters might be involved or indeed where the location/locations for the story might be. I just had a fragment of an idea – and in time the rest would follow by writing and rewriting.
So, in one of your relaxed moods an idea can rise up and slap you on the face. If it does grab at it – AND WRITE IT DOWN BEFORE IT FRAGMENTS AND FALLS AWAY.
Hope that this helps some writers.
Regards. Patrick.