How I Write-- Ideas

This week on How I Write, the question that was posed was about ideas and how we got the inspiration to write the WIP we are currently writing. Or ideas in general.

In a past post, I mentioned that in Fatal Visions (title to change), the idea came from two Playstation games. I was hooked when I was in highschool playing Medal of Honor and Final Fantasy. I was in love with Squall so my J.C. was modeled after his looks. Medal of Honor... secret missions, war... guns... enough said.

I've always loved psychic abilities and the paranormal. I'm not quite sure when my interest in the supernatural began, but once it started, it took a firm root in my imagination. But I also come from an anthropological and science schooling. It's not enough for me to just 'assume' something paranormal. I like trying to examine the workings of it and give it a scientific explanation. So when my characters developed psychic abilities, I had to think of a scientific method to explain it. A virus that mutated the DNA? What if they are latent abilities from our previous evolutionary lines? What if early hominids communicated through telepathy? These were questions that I asked myself and helped develop the main idea around Fatal Visions.

Currently I'm in edits for (working title) Tempting the Shadows. This book is in the same world as Fatal Visions, but in the story, I asked myself, what happens when a person is a familiar to another? What does that do to their relationship?

It's amazing how songs can also influence ideas. For TS, Nickelback is particularly good. One song fits the main characters and how they feel about each other. They have always been there for each other, and will continue to. No matter what. They have gone through some rough moments, not just life threatening situations and no matter what, they stick together through it all, even when everyone is against them. While I write, I'll often listen to it on repeat.



For more stories of inspiration and what drives their ideas, visit my fellow writers and friends:

Danie Ford
Emma G. Delaney
Kimberly Farris
Kristen Koster