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.
