Where's the Big Idea?
I asked my facebook Reader page what they thought I should blog about, and many of them asked the same thing: Where do the ideas for books come from? Do I think of characters or plots, and how do I flesh them out? That question is probably the most frequently asked question of working fiction writers–just ask the Whine Sisters, and I bet they all agree it is.
It might also be the hardest question to answer. I wish I could say I have a book of basic book ideas I turn to (as an aside, those sorts of books actually exist. I remember reading some book years ago that had a chapter devoted to the 12 basic plot ideas. Did you know there are only twelve plots in the world of literature? Yeah, I put it down). Wouldn't that be sweet, if there was a Big Book of Book Ideas?
For me, ideas are very organic. A lot of my ideas are sparked with a lot of reading. I call it feeding the beast. That doesn't mean I take ideas from the books I read, but if I read a lot, ideas or words will spark ideas in my head. The Secrets of Hadley Green series (Year of Living Scandalously, The Revenge of Lord Eberlin, and The Seduction of Lady X), came from reading something in which the writer made the point that everyone had secrets. That was it, the remark that sparked the ideas that set off the series. 
I tend to be more character driven than plot driven, so an idea for a book generally begins with a person and a tiny concept. From there, I begin to think about that person–who it is, where he or she has been in their life, and what is the big obstacle to life facing them now, what drives them. Names are big deal to me–the character has to have the right name to make their personality work. To get names, I use the social security administration and Behindthename.org to name them. I used to use a cemetery where I walked my dogs.
When I begin writing my book, my idea is generally in such an embryonic state that it grows and changes as I write. So sometimes, what I thought was a great idea sometimes looks pretty lame on paper. Sometimes the idea is too big for one book and I have to figure out how to rein it in. Sometimes–thankfully, rarely–I realize that it's just the wrong idea altogether. For all these reasons, the first draft of a book is very difficult for me to write. The idea needs to be massaged and developed, and built into the characters. Once I have a first and rough draft, I can go back and work on fleshing out the basic idea and characters and hopefully create a story that you want to read.
Where do your ideas come from? Are you more of a character thinker, or a plot thinker? What's your biggest source of inspiration?
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