Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Eileen Cook's FIVE TIPS FOR FINDING INSPIRATION

HALLIE EPHRON: Eileen Cook writes creepy (YAY!) young adult psychological thrillers. Her most recent ones, With Malice (Entertainment Weekly called it a "seriously creepy thriller") and The Hanging Girl, were huge bestsellers. Now she's just out with You Owe Me a Murder. I file her writing alongside Megan Abbott's, only for teens.


I get to hang out with Eileen every year at the Surrey International Writers Conference in Vancouver, and she's not only a super-talented writer, she's an inspired teacher. Which is what she's here to talk about today: Five Tips for Finding Inspiration.

EILEEN COOK: One of the most common questions a writer is asked is: Where do you get your ideas? I always dread this question as I want to have a witty or clever comeback and I never do. If I was being honest, I’d have to admit:  I have absolutely no idea, oh dear God, what if this was the last idea I ever get?  Then I would to crumple into a fetal ball on the floor and rock back and forth until the fear of idea drought slips away.

Ideas for books are tricky things. Sometimes they sneak up on you whispering in your ear, showing up in dreams, slipping out of sight until you finally can trap them on the page. Then there are the times where you are minding your own business and a great idea comes up and whaps you upside the head and screams in your face until you agree to tell the story.

Ideas are everywhere. There are more ideas than you could write in a lifetime of typing. It’s recognizing a good idea when you see it that can be a tricky process. Here are five tips that may help you spot them in the wild.

Personal Interactions: This one can be hard for introverts, but at times we might need to venture out into the world and interact with other people. Be brave, some of them might even be strangers. Listen to conversations in coffee shops or take notes when a friend shares a personal experience. The risk people run when they’re friends with writers is that we reserve the right to put them in our novels.

The News: The saying that truth is stranger than fiction is an understatement. When you read the paper or watch the news keep an eye out for interesting characters, odd events, or possible plot twists. You might discover the perfect way to hide a body, pull a con, or identify a character that would pop off the page. Pay special attention to things that leave you with an emotional reaction, that make you angry, or cry, or curious to know more. Strong emotions often lead to strong stories.

Keep Your Eyes Open and Soak It In: I was once on a ferry and saw a missing child poster where there was an age enhanced photo showing what the child would look like now. I turned to a friend and said: Wouldn’t it be weird if you looked like the picture and that was the way you ended up discovering that your parents had abducted you? In an instant the idea for what would become my novel The Almost Truth popped into my head. I’ve known writers who have had ideas come to them from looking at a painting or from seeing a couple across a restaurant interact in a way that struck them. Be curious about the world around you. Expose yourself to art and music. Occasionally stop and look around you, notice what you see and maybe what you initially overlooked.

The Classics: My most recent book, You Owe Me a Murder was inspired by the Patricia Highsmith classic—Strangers on a Train. I’ve always loved Highsmith’s books for their complicated and morally grey characters. I thought about how the story would play out in modern times with teen characters and before I knew it I was at the keyboard. Consider using classics or fairy tales and look at how they could be twisted, retold, or inspire a new story.

Combine the Top Four with The What If Game: Whenever you get the glimmer of an idea, don’t be afraid to play with it or build on it. The best question a writer can ask herself is: What if? What if A happened instead of B? What if this experience was had by teens, or a single mom or included aliens? What if the conflict was made worse? What if it happened in a different time? What if these two ideas combined? I used to get an idea and then scramble to the keyboard as fast as possible to hammer out an outline. I was afraid if I didn’t write it down it would get away from me. I’ve now come to believe that the best ideas should be allowed to percolate. The more I turn them over in my head the more likely I am to let them build into a richer experience.

How you keep track of these ideas are up to you.
Some writers jot them down in journals, many keep an idea file where they store torn articles from newspapers and slips of paper with notes that would make homeland security raise an eyebrow. You never know when an idea will strike and it may sit in a file for a while, but store them like your own personal imagination survival kit.

Now I’m curious- where have some of your best book ideas come from? What’s inspired what you’re writing? 


HALLIE: What's a little scary is what inspired Eileen's new book also inspired mine. Strangers on a Train is just one of those amazing books that is so original and mind-blowing. And it just goes to show you how the same spark of an idea will take two different writers galloping off in very different directions.

And for the record, I keep a file named COMPOST. Every time I get the teensiest idea I dump it in there. It's a couple of hundred pages long and I still go back and forage about when the well runs dry.

44 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new book, Eileen.
    It’s so interesting to explore the many facets of idea-gathering. And it’s good to know that “Strangers on a Train” continues to serve as an inspiration . . . .

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    1. In my opinion you can never go wrong with Highsmith or Hitchcock for inspiration!

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    2. Agreed! She was amazing and scary

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  2. Your book sounds great, Eileen! I haven't read Strangers on a Train, but I'm going to have to check it out.

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    1. Highsmith also wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley- she was the master at psychological thrillers.

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  3. Wonderful suggestions, Eileen. I have a short story coming out sparked by a guy I saw walking down a sidewalk. That's all. And another one sparked by an article about hyperpolyglots in the New Yorker! I think my book inspirations are more complicated, thought. I love the idea of letting the inspiration percolate, musing about the ways to twist it.

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    1. Ideas are great when we let them sit a bit and I'm always shocked/surprised/delighted when ideas show up

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  4. Welcome Eileen. Your books sound fascinating. I promise to have a look later today.

    I really really really keep in mind that I must never ask a writer where the ideas come from. To begin with, there are probably more answers than ideas anyway, and besides, it is not something to bandy about in case a great idea gets preempted. So this has answered my question very well.

    Hallie, I love the idea of the compost file. What a creative name. I can see idea going in there and perhaps blending with other ideas, growing legs, turning into something so different than the original, and, most importantly, providing a growth medium for who knows what. Brilliant.

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    1. Yes, I also love that compost file too! And you can ask any question- just know we may not have a good answer.

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  5. Congratulations on your new release! I have an idea file and am always looking for new ways to poison someone. I recently attended a Human Trafficking Conference and acquired enough plot material for several future books. It's all around us, and now I know where and how to find it.

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    1. It's comments like this that get you on a watch list Margaret! : )

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  6. This is so great, Eileen! And I’ll add the reassurance that we never know when the moment will occur. You almost can’t go looking for it, it will just appear when it’s meant to. I’m the child of duction poster idea is breathtakingly great!
    I to have a compost pile, which I call “ a manila file of old newspaper articles,” which I will never look at again.
    I also have an email file called book ideas. Once I thought oh! I’ll just look in my book idea file! And there was nothing in it. And so it goes !
    Congratulations on the new book, Eileen! It looks amazing.

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    1. Thank you so much! I do think that the very act of tearing out the article and filing it (even if we never look at it again- although I've moved that file four times) somehow makes it stick in our brain. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

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  7. Thank you Eileen and Hally, the timing of this post is perfect and I'm printing it.
    I've always loved writing but never considered myself as very imaginative. It is a problem when trying to write but I continue to try, I'm going forward.

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    1. I think imagination is a muscle. The more we use it the easier it gets. Play the what if game constantly- what if that happened to a kid, what if that was your husband, what if etc.

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  8. Thanks for the introduction, Hallie. I am always on the hunt for YA books that actually fit the crime fiction mold to cover on the blog. Off to order a few of these.

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    1. Well, aren't you my new bff? Let me know if I can help with anything.

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  9. OMG, The Almost Truth sounds so intriguing! I'll be looking at your books on Amazon today, Eileen.

    I find that story ideas occur to me when I'm doing any other kind of writing (grading papers, answering email, etc.). It's like part of my brain is busy with what I need to do while the sneaky part is saying "now would be a good time to let her know about this idea." Like Hank, I jot down the ideas so I can get back to them later.

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    1. Yes, ideas are very sneaky like that. They have a tendency to show up at inconvient times

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  10. A good YA novel is so hard to write. Congratulations on mastering the suspense side for this age level.
    I am the 'fan girl' who wants to share all my story ideas with authors. It occurred to me, finally, that authors are creators not plagiarists. Now I apply mental duct tape before I chat with my heroes.

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    1. Where does one purchase "mental duct tape'? Asking for a friend

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    2. I also need some of this mental duct tape. You could sell it in bulk

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  11. Hello Eileen. The title of your new book demands attention. Reminds me of the line from the movie, "I won't be ignored." Well done!
    I have both a notebook and a physical box where I put things that prompt my attention. Also, I've picked a real town in Northern CA which I've morphed into the setting for the book. I follow their website and their facebook page. All sorts of goodies pop up and one recent story prompted the creation of a very nice secondary character.

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    1. Thank you so much. I find titles hard. When they come together it always feels like cause for celebration

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  12. Congrats, Eileen, your new book sounds fantastic! And I love your tips for finding ideas. I recently had a whole book download itself into my head in the five minutes I was waiting for my son outside a convenience store. It was crazy but, of course, it came from observing the people in my life and taking their journeys, throwing them in a mental blender, and spitting it out in a new and different way. I wish they all came this easily.

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    1. Thank you so much. And how I love love love when a book idea comes together like that. It doesn't happen often, but when it does pop the champagne!

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    2. Point me to that convenience store!

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  13. These are all great suggestions, Eileen.

    My first book, ROOT OF ALL EVIL, started with a snippet of overheard conversation. This year's book, HEAVEN HAS NO RAGE, started from "what if." And next year's book, BROKEN TRUST, started with a factoid from a resource of mine that I then took to "what if." As you said, ideas are everywhere.

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    1. Ideas are everywhere- it's nailing them down that can be tricky at times. Congrats on your books!

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  14. My best book inspiration? Stumbling over a tiny graveyard next to a reservoir in the southern Adirondacks while walking with a friend. The graves were from the 19th century, clustered in families, and many stones marked the graves of children who had died within weeks of one another. One family lost four children in ten days.

    I had this sensation - like standing next to an impossibly deep well - and i knew whatever that place represented, it was enough to carry a great novel. And indeed, the book that resulted was nominated for the Edgar and Anthony awards.

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    1. Oh I love graveyards. I have a photo of one in Salem that was a Captain Robert Cook and his wife Eileen, which was my husband's and my name. Totally creepy. Granted our marriage died so perhaps it was psychic

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  15. I imagine the local news could provide all kinds of ideas, just hearing a story and wondering what led up to the event that made the news. There was an interesting one last year: a woman was arrested for the death of her husband several years earlier in California. She'd taken the insurance money and set up a new life for herself on the Texas coast. She bought a boat and became a popular tour boat captain, along with her new significant other. I'm not sure of the why, but when she applied for a passport it tripped some alarms and the feds checked her out. I'd love to know the whole story. I don't know if it's come to trial yet or not.

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    1. Truth is always stranger than fiction. I love to hang on to these stories to see if I can twist them

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  16. Hallie, I love your Compost file! Going to copy that!

    Eileen, I'm just starting a new book so your post couldn't have come at a better time. I do all of those things, but it's nice to have a reminder, and to have them laid out in such a logical way. I've had book ideas sparked from all sorts of things, from newspaper cuttings to overheard conversations, episodes of TV shows, other books--and sometimes they just seem to come out of thin air. I dreamed most of the plot for one book. But whatever the original idea, I start what-if-ing. When I get stuck part way through, I what-if some more.

    Best of luck with The Almost Truth! Love the title, love the idea!

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    1. So glad that this was helpful. I need reminders all the time about the process to keep me on track

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  17. I'm excited to find you, Eileen. I still read YA/teen and share it with my teenage granddaughter. My daughter and the granddaughter participated in a YA reading club at their library together, and they shared titles with me that they were enjoying. Now, I have to backtrack and ask them if they've read you and, if not, recommend you. The Almost Truth and You Owe Me a Murder sound like two excellent places to start my reading of you.

    When you mentioned Strangers on a Train, I couldn't help but think that a great idea finds itself being used in many ways. One of my favorite movies is Danny Devito's and Billy Crystal's Throw Momma from the Train, hilarious movie, but based on the idea of two strangers meeting on a train and, this time, unintentionally agreeing to off Danny's mother and Billy's ex-wife. Now, I'll have to watch it again soon.

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    1. I'm excited to find you too! I hope your daughter and granddaughter enjoy the books.

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  18. A very insightful article and yes, the trick is knowing the good idea. I love the possibility of twisting and turning a fairy tale, and wonder why I never thought of it. I will now. I do have files of clippings and I do eavesdrop in public and I have files of clippings, some from surprising sources. The Q & A of the NY Times Sunday Real Estate section? Fodder for stories of neighborhood feuds. What could I do with that? And the plot of Brooklyn Bones, first in my series, came from urban legends of contractors finding old human bones while renovating old houses (Constant renovation in my historic neighborhood). Ah. Not legend. Ideas are everywhere if your antennae are tuned.

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    1. I was trying to say to you (somehow I screwed up the comments) that the fairy tale stuff is fun to play with given all the tropes they have

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