Where do I get ideas?
I am often asked where my novel ideas come from. I think that ideas are all around us, and if you allow yourself to be open to thoughts and impressions, novels spring from that point. It’s a combination of truth, something relatable to your reader, and creativity.
I’ve read that Diana Gabaldon came up for the concept for her uber-successful “Outlander” series after watching an episode of “Dr. Who” where a character time-travels.
EL James famously created “Fifty Shades of Grey” after writing fan fiction for “Twilight”. It’s said that Margaret Mitchell wrote “Gone With the Wind” as an ode to her ex-husband. For me, “The Lyric of Memory” was sparked by attending a Carole King/James Taylor concert. “Adjusting the Rear View” was written as a tribute to my closest friends.
My new work, “The Gypsy Moth Chronicles” was born in Cape Cod while sitting on the magnificent beach there. I have an entire file cabinet full of ideas… let your mind wander a bit and see if you don’t have a novel in you as well!
a flawed protagonist and a satisfying ending. I really want to go on a journey with the writer. I don’t want to be able to guess what’s going to happen next in the plot, I want the story to flow in a plausible, connected way. I want a main character that I can relate to, one that is far from perfect, someone who is trying to make sense of the world the writer has created. And I want the ending to work within the parameters of the narrative. I, for one, don’t need a happy conclusion, but I want to have the satisfaction of knowing that the right thing has happened for the people I’ve now followed for a few hundred pages. I hope I deliver on that promise to my own readers, and I would expect nothing less from the writers I admire.
front of an apartment building in the historic district of Tel Aviv. There are a number of beautiful older architectural jewels in the Bauhaus district there, often referred to as the “White City”. These buildings, constructed between the 1930’s through the 1950’s, bear the influence of the German immigrants who flooded Israel during and after WWII. Seeing those structures, walking those streets made me stop and think about the people who may have lived there. And within those thoughts, the seeds of a novel began to form. Travel is wonderful for a variety of reasons, but for me, it often sparks my creativity!
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