Where do you get your ideas?

This is the question writers hear so often from non-writers.

Something about the way that sounds makes me imagine a place where you go and pick up a handful of ideas — like an idea tree.

I've never found a tree or a fountain of ideas, but I will admit to going trolling for ideas a few years back. I had written four books in my Sechelle Sullivan series, and I wanted to write a big stand alone thriller, so I wrote to a friend whom I knew to be a maritime archeologist and I asked him if he knew of any mysterious events or shipwrecks I could write about. He sent me a list and one jumped out at me. It was the story of the mysterious disappearance of the French submarine SOURCOUF in 1942. This brief article and old newsreel footage show how amazing the story is.

http://bernews.com/2011/10/mystery-of...

So, I found my idea and I spent the next five years fleshing out that idea with characters and details and events. I found all those sub-ideas (pun intended) by imagining certain characters and then making up how they might have played a part in the disappeance of this mighty sub. And so was born Circle of Bones.

I'm nearly done with the edits of CoB, and it's a good time to be looking for an idea for the next book.

So, today, I flew into Norfolk and the owners of Emmy Kate picked me up anddrove me to the boat in Hampton. I moved aboard. This evening, I went to a reception of the owners and crew of this Caribbean 1500 group. I learned that there are people who do this race every year as well as rank beginners. And my wicked little mind began putting together a plot.

That's where I get my ideas from.

Fair winds!

Christine

Posted from my iPad due to lack of Internet

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