Where do your ideas come from?

The title of this blog post is a question authors get a lot during interviews.

I can’t speak for others, but more often than not, it’s an impossible question for me to answer with absolute certainty—or even at all. On a very rare occasion, a book has sprung from some deeply personal experience (A Promise Kept, Beyond the Shadows, The Forgiving Hour), but mostly my stories are simply products of my imagination somewhere deep down in my subconscious.

But what does coming from my imagination mean? Shrug. I can’t say. So very much of the writing process, so much about the gift of creativity, remains a mystery. At least that’s true for me.

I’ve shared this favorite scene from the movie Shakespeare in Love before (side note: I love movies about writers because they make me feel less alone; if you haven’t seen The Man Who Invented Christmas, about Charles Dickens as he wrote A Christmas Carol, you should). I think this scene is worth repeating for this post:

Philip Henslowe:
Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Hugh Fennyman: 
So what do we do?

Philip Henslowe: 
Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.

Hugh Fennyman: 
How?

Philip Henslowe:
I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

On February 28, I sent my latest book (the first in a three-book series) to my editor. At that moment, I hadn’t a clue what the second book in the series would be about, other than (1) either the hero or the heroine was a cousin of the heroine in the first book and (2) the historical thread of the Henning family would continue from Book #1, on into Book #2, and then through Book #3. That was it. Sigh.

So in the afternoon of the 28th, I played around with titles and found the one that shouted THAT’S IT! Then I opened a new Scrivener document (a writing application) and started to investigate my main two characters. I decided it’s my hero who is the cousin, which meant I had to trace his family tree back through time.

At some point before I quit work that night, I realized my hero, Ben, has a new purpose for the old family farm (property that’s been in the family for more than a hundred years) and a new dream for his life. And somehow, that also told me what my heroine, Ashley, wants to do with her life. I began to see each of their family dynamics and how those dynamics have shaped them. I discovered some of their flaws and at least one roadblock that can ruin a happily ever after.

Where did the ideas come from? I don’t know. They just … came. Little by little. Moment by moment.

How does it work? I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

In the two weeks since, I’ve been working feverishly on this story and have fallen in love with my hero and heroine. I’m enjoying seeing their story unfold before me. As a seat-of-the-pants writer, I get up each morning and write so that I can discover what happens to my characters, the same way my readers will eventually read the book to see what happens to them.

How does it work? I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

After 37 years of writing fiction (I started writing my first book in March 1981), I’m convinced it will always be that way for me. A mystery. And I’m not sure I would want that to ever change.

~robin