Inside a Writer’s Brain

I thought it might be fun to take you inside a writer’s mind. Readers often ask me, “Where do you get your ideas?” That’s a hard answer to give because ideas come from so many different places. A research tidbit I ran across years ago. A place I visited. A book I read. A television show I watched. A Bible verse. The fact that I wanted something to explode. All of those have been sources of inspiration for my books.

A writer’s most powerful inspiration comes from the question, “What if?” That question opens the door of the imagination.

Here’s an example. Last month the reading challenge I oversee had the theme of reading books with the word Bride in the title. So I created this image of a bride reading. However, the more I look at this image the more I begin to wonder who she is and why she is reading alone in a library in her wedding dress.

Here is a sample of the questions that began running through my head:

Is this before the wedding or after?Was she feeling overwhelmed by all the preparations and just needed some quiet time to settle herself?Is she reading a romance novel? The Bible? A marriage guide?Where is her groom?Why is she in a Victorian-style gown? Is this the 1880s or is she a modern woman with classic taste?Is this the church library, or did an evil stepmother lock her in a tower room to keep her from away from her true love?Is she even a bride? Could she be an actress from a period piece who is on break? Or a wedding dress model passing time until the photographer is ready for her?Was she abandoned at the altar and sent everyone away so she could get lost in a book and not deal with her devastating reality?Is she an undercover FBI agent looking for the book from the Victorian wedding venue that holds the key to a cipher that will save the world from imminent destruction?When she looks up, will a smile stretch her lips as love glows in her eyes? Or will a tear fall from her eye as heartbreak ensues?

If you were to create story with this image as your inspiration, where would your imagination take you?

Share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to read them!

PRIZE:
One person who shares will win an audiobook code for If the Boot Fits!