Readers Ask: How Do You Come Up With Your Story Lines?

Amy writes:

How do you come up with the amazing story lines–it really makes you stop and think–I wonder if that actually could have happened–keep up the great work!!

Dear Amy,

Most of the story ideas come from one of three directions.

I can have a superb concept for starting off, a character or a 'what if' that just ignites me. I love the 'what if's' most of all.

Or I can come across the special source, or information, or bit of research, or news item that is so astonishing I have to run with it. This happened with Lion of Babylon.

And then there is the rarest of all, when I see the story, beginning to end, a climax thrown in for good measure. Just bang, the whole thing is there suspended before my eyes. The Quilt was one such book. The Meeting Place, with Janette Oke, was another.