Fola asked Karen Witemeyer:

First, I love you books and writing style and was just wondering where you get such original story ideas?

Karen Witemeyer Thanks, Fola! I actually get inspiration in a lot of different places. Books. Movies. TV. Even the Bible. For the Archers, I was inspired by the old musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I only had 4 brothers instead of 7, and instead of naming them alphabetically after Bible heroes, I chose to name them after heroes of the Alamo.

With my latest book, Full Steam Ahead, I was inspired first by the character I wanted to create. I wanted a "mad scientist" hero and an excuse for lots of explosions. At first I thought I'd make him a chemist, but when I started researching, I realized there was a much better option. During the 1850s steamboat explosions were a huge problem and stole thousands of lives every year. So I put him on an exploding steamship that actually existed in history, and the trauma of that event gave birth to his obsession to do his own experiments to try to make boilers, and therefore steamboat travel, safer. You'll also probably pick up on influences of Disney's Beauty and the Beast as you read it, too. Mrs. Wellborn sounds a lot like Mrs. Potts. :-)

So those are just a few ideas. Thanks for the fun question!

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