“What inspires you to write?”
“How do you come up with story ideas?”
“Are your characters based on real people? On yourself?”
Every author gets these questions almost immediately after telling someone what they do. Potential readers, in my case romance readers, are particularly interested.
I used to give them flippant answers, but recently I have thought more about the question and realized I get my inspiration from many sources, but five are my particular go-to sources (besides dreams, which I really can’t control).
Here are my five, in—as game show hosts love to say—no particular order. I promise if you let them, that they will inspire the author in you—for FREE. You just have to let them. Stop and smell the inspiration.
1/ Movies and Television that Inspire
Okay, I am a shameless stealer of ideas from watching television. I know, I know, you are thinking it’s the Hallmark movies I talk about all the time. Sure, they are a resource, but so is the nightly news. And Orphan Black. Not that I am writing about cloning or crime or politics, but a romance set against the backdrop of a huge wildfire? I have started that book. The couple torn apart by an election? Yeah, that one hit a little too close to home, so I put it in the drawer for now, but it is a novel on the horizon, too.
All of these ideas come from the news. So does my description of a yacht, or a butler. Yep, a newspaper article. Sometimes I even get ideas from songs—old and new.
And I shamelessly admit that when I was struggling not to get bogged down in one of my Beguiling Bachelor novels, 27 Dresses came to the rescue. I had thirty chapters; the movie had thirty scenes. Watching the movie pacing, how the character developed going into and out of each scene, cured my messy-middle problem.
2/ Being Downright Nosy
My friends have accused me of interviewing everyone I meet, and when I am honest, I have to admit they are right. I studied journalism in college, not because I wanted to learn to interview, but because I was downright nosy. I wanted to know everything about everything and everyone.
But being curious is a great trait for a writer seeking inspiration. Asking people about their lives flatters them and supplies you with book fodder out the wazoo. One of my upcoming All’s Crazy in Love books developed exactly that way. I met a friend of a friend who with little prodding offered to share her love story. I was over the moon to write it and she was honored. Win, win. Not everyone will be so forthcoming, but even a snippet here and there can be the basis of a great novel.
3/ Vacations and New Locations can Inspire
Okay, technically vacations aren’t free, but local street fairs are, and so are some museums. The idea is to have a change of scenery that allows you to see new things, or old things in new ways. Both Desire & Dessert and Moonlight & Moet came from this form of inspiration. One was born from my surprise while driving backroads in western North Carolina to come upon an enormous factory in a sleepy little town. The other came from a part-time innkeeping job.
I believe our brains are more open to suggestion when we are on vacation, when we are more relaxed. Also, we are more likely to see new things and meet new people (see #4 below). If we use our eyes, ears, even our noses, we are likely to add numerous large and small ideas to our writer’s repertoire.
4/ Eavesdropping and People Watching
Have you ever played a game with friends where you pick someone out in a crowd, a complete stranger, and make up a story about him or her—where they are going, who they are meeting? People watching naturally gives way to storytelling. I had a friend when I lived in California who was spectacular at this game, if a bit vicious.
Imagining stories from an overheard word or phrase, or from the way someone is dressed or wears their hair, all of these improve a writer’s creativity. I especially love finding ideas from riding public transportation. I get exposed to a wider variety of people there.
5/ Inspiration? Friends and Family
This one is a little trickier to navigate. Unlike the friend of a friend who wanted to share her story, most people aren’t thrilled to find themselves and their lives in print. Reams have been written on this topic, and for good reason. You want to be free to write, but you want to keep your friends.
Sharon Harrigan, author of Half, said it like this:
Writing about the people you are closest to can be one of the most rewarding experiences a writer can have—but also the scariest…”
She breaks her advice into two parts. First: what to put on the page. And second: how to deal with your subjects’ reactions to what you write about them.
Best advice, keep the first separate from the second or you will censor everything. For me, I worried what my family would think because I have s-e-x in my novels. I had to get over it or I would still be struggling with my first book.
Once the words are on paper, each writer must decide for themselves how to share a character with the person they are based upon. Hardest, I imagine, in memoir —where I would definitely discuss it with the subject. Easier for me writing fiction, since my characters are inspired by friends and family, but they are still fictional characters.
Either way, it is difficult for an author to leave personal experiences out of their work, which means friends and family will creep in intentionally or unintentionally. I embrace my history, rich with wonderful people, and steal a phrase or mannerism someone uses to inspire favorite characters.
My entire All’s Crazy in Love series is an ode to my wonderful girlfriends and using bits and pieces of my interactions with them makes for richer characters. See for yourself in the prequel, Crazy to Wed, available on Amazon.
Where do you get inspiration, writing or otherwise? Won’t you comment below and share your favorite idea-generators?