About Ideas

Perhaps the most often asked question for a fiction
author is: Where do you get your ideas?

I've been asked that several times over the last couple of
weeks and I spent some time thinking about my answer.
So - I've decided to share.

The answer will probably surprise some!

The ideas come from everywhere. Something heard on the
television, a chance conversation overheard in the grocery,
(remember that when you are standing in line waiting for the
cashier and talking to the person next to you), a bit in the
newspaper, even something read in another's book.

I remember distinctly listening to the last act of Faust (yep!
the opera) and thinking about the heroine and her death sentence.
It's quite an opera. I could see the heroine, pleading, and here
came the idea, to a stranger for her baby who has been taken from
her. The music inspired the idea.

The names of towns have given me ideas, even a lonely old house.
(That's the gothic influence.)

So, my simple answer to the question, "Where do your ideas
come from?" - They come from everywhere. Happy reading!

Allison