"Where do you get your ideas?"

I get this question more than any other. Here are some great authors (Stephen King, John Irving, Alan Hollinghurst

Alan Hollinghurst) answering it. 

Where they get their ideas. 

Harnessing Creativty

Want to keep your mind sharp and your ideas fresh? Try these techniques:

How to Be Creative

For Daydream Believers

http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/go-ahead-daydream-for-creativity.html

In the Still of the Night

I have a feeling it's going to be a late night. In addition to being a night owl, I just finished a latte with enough espresso to jumpstart three accountants.

Anyway, I'll probably work on my writing or make some tags for my scrapbooking and cardmaking projects. I was looking at my oven about an hour ago. It could use some extra attention. I'll probably take care of that before I go to bed.

All of this got me wondering what my main character does at odd hours. If for some reason he couldn't sleep, would he toss and turn? Does he have one of those "sounds of the ocean" machines on a bedside table? Maybe he'd just turn on the television and watch infomercials. As I type this, I realize that he'd get up and work. He works at home and suddenly I know he doesn't have much of a life outside of his apartment.

What does your character do in the wee hours of the night? What wakes him/her up in the middle of the night? Would she make herself a glass of warm milk? Surf the web? Or how about something unexpected like go for a walk?

Think about how a scene like this could add depth to your character. It could reveal fears and racing thoughts. Imagine the type of people he/she would meet late at night.

BAD Antennae!

I had lunch with two friends today. We spent time catching up on our lives at a noisy Buffalo Wild Wings. One of my friends talked at length about a sort of Renaissance she's having in her life. She and her husband may be on the verge of a divorce. In fact, after she told him that she was unhappy and what she thought they could do to have a better marriage, his response was "Well, we should just separate then." According to my friend, her husband had absolutely no interest in doing anything differently. No compromise. No change. If it  meant things had to be different, he wasn't interested.

Now, my friend has been coming into her own in the last six months or so. She looks better, happier, more buoyant. She chalks it up to the fact that she decided after more than a decade of wedded unbliss, she wanted to focus on her own happiness and her own life.

Okay . . . what does this have to do with writing? Well, as a writer, the number one question people ask me is: "Where do you get your ideas?" Today I could say, "From a friend going through a divorce and is suddenly the happiest I've ever known her to be."

When people ask that question, my response is usually that artists always have our antennae up. Ideas come to us from all the experiences we have. This afternoon, while listening to my friend talk non-remorsefully about her situation, I felt a twinge of guilt because a small part of me was creating plot lines and developing characters. By the time I got my "To Go" box, I had an idea for a three-book series and couldn't wait to add it to my idea file.

So . . . what about you? Have you gotten a story idea from an unexpected experience? What was it, and what did you do with your idea?