Goodreads asked Bryan Way:

How do you get inspired to write?

Bryan Way Inspiration is pervasive. Sometimes desultory conversation, seeing the aftermath of a car accident, the smell of an open vista, the look of a vehicle in a parking lot, or the flicker of tungsten streetlights can be a catalyst. It helps to step back and take a grander view of even the most banal circumstances, investigating minute details engaged by your senses and observing something meaningful, distressing, joyous, or bizarre that you might have otherwise overlooked.

A lot of great writing comes from conversation alone. The concept that writing does not flourish in a vacuum is a pregnant one, as you cannot rely on your own perception of people, events, and situations. The more you try to understand about people, the closer you get to the engine that drives them.

On the other hand, a great story often seems to write itself with the proper complement of situational intrigue and great characters, but don't fool yourself when it comes to inspiration; when inspiration strikes suddenly, some writers describe themselves as a conduit through which writing flows, as though it were informed by a higher power. This discredits the power of curiosity and invention inherent in our psychology, and though this inspiration inevitably draws on some source, the channel through which it flows is you and you alone.

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