“Where Do You Get Your Ideas?”

“Where do you get your ideas?” is one of those questions that gets old fast. It’s also one of the questions you’ll hear most as a writer.

I don’t think I’ve ever gone to a conference or a signing or participated in a panel when I haven’t heard that question either before, after, or during the event.

I think my answer is the same as most writers. I smile and say, “You know, the ideas come all the time. I can’t shut them off! But they’re not epic ideas. They’re usually really small ideas that I can develop.”

For me, it’s only really occasionally that I’ll get a Super Big Idea. Even then, it might not be an idea that fits with the book I need to write. I mean, it’s great if I get a cool idea for a family saga that spans generations, but what I really need is a cool idea for a traditional mystery.

Instead of the Super Big Idea, I get little snippets of dialogue, character traits, an interesting quirk or personality type. Frequently these ideas show up while I’m at the store or in a conversation. I got them during book club last week and was guiltily texting myself the idea during the club meeting—realizing I probably looked obnoxious, but worried about losing the idea for good.

Sometimes I ‘m not even happy with the ideas I’ve got. Maybe they seemed like good ideas at the time, but once I started playing around with them on paper, they didn’t pan out the way I’d wanted them to.

In fact, one day in early 2010, I was working on my manuscript, Finger Lickin’ Dead (the book that’s releasing on Tuesday). The manuscript was in the early stages and I was exploring some of my ideas—and not liking them much.

I got an email from Hart Johnson. She’d had this really crazy, vivid dream, she said. It involved a murdered restaurant critic. She said that she knew she wasn’t going to write a restaurant mystery, and offered me the dream as a starting point.

And you know? It worked so much better than my idea! So I took her starting point, and Finger Lickin’ Dead was created. I mentioned Hart in my acknowledgments (thanking her for her ‘helpful suggestions’) and sent her a copy—which she showed off here.

Which goes to show, I think, that if we’re receptive to new ideas and not worried about trying a new direction for our story, we can really end up with a stronger book.

So now I’ll ask the never-ending question: where do you get your ideas? What’s the most unusual way you’ve received one?

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