What was the initial inspiration for your book?

[Ana]

I'm doing a workshop with some 8-12 yr olds and will be talking about triggers for creativity. My trigger for Oy Yew was chimneys. Tolkien was triggered by a line of poetry: 'Hail Earendel, most bright angel'. I'd like some more examples, especially from children's writers. What triggered your book?

[Jemima]

My Princelings books were triggered by a combination of deciding my two guinea pigs, named Fred and George, seemed to be a philosopher and an engineer, plus a weird game we played in our guinea pig forum, writing a bit of a story one post at a time, and somehow they went down a tunnel and found a world running on strawberry juice.

I just wrote what the guinea pigs told me to write after that.

[Deanna]

Twilight actually got me thinking about how cool it would be to never age, leading to Ageless!

[Ana]

Jemima wrote: "My Princelings books were triggered by a combination of deciding my two guinea pigs, named Fred and George, seemed to be a philosopher and an engineer, plus a weird game we played in our guinea pig..."

Haha, excellent - I'll definitely be using that one.

[Ana]

Deanna wrote: "Twilight actually got me thinking about how cool it would be to never age, leading to Ageless!"

Intriguing. Twilight invites the muse. Thanks, Deanna.

[J.S.]

My husband was reading the last Harry Potter book and started thinking about a new fantasy world. It wouldn't leave his mind so he started writing about it and now we have Zndaria. I've found triggers for creativity can lead to the start of scenes and stories and can come when working them. One time I was working a chapter and my daughter started screaming upstairs because there was a spider. After I killed it, I decided if a spider was going to interrupt my work, it would become part of it and I gave one of the characters a tattoo of a ten-legged spider.

[Kathleen]

My MG Historical fiction, THE LAST CHERRY BLOSSOM was inspired by my mother's childhood in Hiroshima during World War II.

[Steve]

My series The Secret of the Tirthas was inspired by a cottage I stayed at in the remote Herefordshire countryside. The cottage had a garden of hedged 'rooms' full of exotic statues and art work. I thought, what if a young girl inherited this place and found that each garden room had a portal to a sacred place? In the first adventure, The City of Light, the portal Lizzie discovers is to the holy city of Kashi in India, where a killer is preying on street children.

[Ana]

Steve wrote: "My series The Secret of the Tirthas was inspired by a cottage I stayed at in the remote Herefordshire countryside. The cottage had a garden of hedged 'rooms' full of exotic statues and art work. I ..."

Sounds magical. I love a good portal.

[Rebecca]

My first book, The Ninja Librarian, was triggered by a smart-alec comment by our librarian, which led me to ask if he was some kind of ninja librarian or something. Boom, the story and setting popped into my head.

Not sure where Halitor the Hero came from. In a very tenuous way, from a bit of flash fiction I wrote.

And my adult murder mysteries, well, they're set among the members of a PTA. I have 2 kids and have been in the PTA for 13 years now....need I say more??

[Ana]

Ana wrote: "Jemima wrote: "My Princelings books were triggered by a combination of deciding my two guinea pigs, named Fred and George, seemed to be a philosopher and an engineer, plus a weird game we played in..."

Ana wrote: "Jemima wrote: "My Princelings books were triggered by a combination of deciding my two guinea pigs, named Fred and George, seemed to be a philosopher and an engineer, plus a weird game we played in..."

Used the guinea pigs as an example, Jemima. It set them all off giggling and helped open them up creatively. We had a great workshop.

[Jemima]

That's great to know! I feel I should send your class a photo of Fred & George - for further inspiration :)

[Ash]

Tooth Goblins was inspired by my nephew asking "What does the tooth-fairy do with all the teeth?"

[Jemima]

Ash wrote: "Tooth Goblins was inspired by my nephew asking "What does the tooth-fairy do with all the teeth?""

What a great question... it's just inspired a flash fiction story for this coming Friday!

[Ana]

Jemima wrote: "That's great to know! I feel I should send your class a photo of Fred & George - for further inspiration :)"

They were home ed kids, Jemima, so not a cohesive group. Personally I'd be intrigued to examine those subtle characteristics that distinguish the guinea pig philosopher from the guinea pig engineer.

[Ana]

Ash wrote: "Tooth Goblins was inspired by my nephew asking "What does the tooth-fairy do with all the teeth?""

Children make questions into art. When I was scribing thank you letters on birch bark for the tooth fairy she always used to tell my daughter how she had used the tooth.

[A.]

My trigger was the great recession. After I was laid off I had an incredibly hard time just getting interviews for my profession as a graphic designer. Unemployed for two years I had a lot of sleepless nights and my head filled with all kinds of ideas of imaginative places and flights of fantasy. Normally I draw but this time I felt compelled to write. I took all the ideas I had and stitched them together to form a story.

While that was the trigger, my ultimate inspiration was visiting the circus as a kid. This was in the early 80's and thing have changed a lot since then but back then it was an amazing experience. I ended up using a fantasy circus theme as a backdrop in my novel-Luminary.

[Jemima]

A. wrote: "My trigger was the great recession. After I was laid off I had an incredibly hard time just getting interviews for my profession as a graphic designer. Unemployed for two years I had a lot of sleep..."

I've noticed a lot of people getting into art or writing after redundancy. I did a post about it recently for the Insecure Writers Support group monthly post, which got a lot of agreement. Always good to know that our brains look after ourselves in creative outlets when things go haywire workwise. Of course, now it's the writing that sends me haywire. ;)

[Laurence]

My granddaughter!

[Rebecca]

Jemima wrote: "I've noticed a lot of people getting into art or writing after redundancy. "
That's true in a way for me. I didn't get laid off--I failed to land an academic position, and then had a couple of babies and stopped trying. That meant no chance of pursuing my career--academia doesn't really support dropping out for years and then returning, and my interests shifted. I was writing a little the whole time, but when the boys got old enough to give me some genuine free time, I picked up the pace. But I didn't really get serious about it until after I published my first book. That was an amazing inspiration to write the second, and the third, and...

[P.H.T.]

Love this. My inspiration has also come from many unexpected places. The key is paying attention ;)
J.S. wrote: "My husband was reading the last Harry Potter book and started thinking about a new fantasy world. It wouldn't leave his mind so he started writing about it and now we have Zndaria. I've found trigg..."

[P.H.T.]

My inspiration for my book about dreaming was, not surprisingly, my daughters' dreams. They were having a lot of nightmares that were upsetting them, and as I had been working with dreams for over 20 years, I showed them how they could calm and even tame the nightmares. They got such fast results that they wanted to learn what else they could do. Once I showed them how to fly and have lucid dreams, they wanted me to write those tips down for other kids, and we started collaborating on what became "Raising Sleeping Stones." Throughout the writing, they would try the techniques in the book, and their experiences shaped the arc of the story a lot.

[Deborah]

My inspiration was a trip to Japan when I was sixteen.
Bumbling Bea has a long history. It was conceived in 1973 when I took a trip with my parents to Japan. My mother was born in Japan (her parents were missionaries there in the 1930's) and we toured the country for the first time since my mother lived there. For me, one of the most exciting experiences was attending the National Kabuki Theater in Tokyo. I was mesmerized. I loved all the spectacle and pageantry. In particular, I was intrigued that men portrayed all the characters, including the women's roles in the play. I thought a story about a girl who wanted to be a Kabuki actor would be an unusual perspective. I carried the story around in my mind, working on the plot from time to time. Then in 2012 I finally put the story to paper. My love of theatre, many years of directing plays, teaching drama to middle grade students and my own experiences as a mother completed the plot. And it didn't hurt that I'd been a girl much like Beatrice when I was in eigth grade (luckily minus all the drama). I enjoyed every minute of writing it.

[Ana]

P.H.T. wrote: "My inspiration for my book about dreaming was, not surprisingly, my daughters' dreams. They were having a lot of nightmares that were upsetting them, and as I had been working with dreams for over ..."

That all sounds rather fascinating. Will check it out. I can't stop dreaming about snakes lately.

[William]

My series started as a conversation between my grandson and I when we were gemstone hunting in the North Georgia Mountains. Aidan was playing World of Warcraft at the time and I told him about the magical and mystical properties of gemstones. He told me I should write a book with elves, magic, and gemstones. I went home, started writing and finished 4 books later!

[Leone]

My two middle grade historical novels began with two "sparks" after my move to his northwest corner of Illinois. First, a sign along the highway. I was on my way to Galena, passing thru the small town of Elizabeth. "Apple River Fort." I had to see it. (I never made it to Galena that day). The second was a young boy, red-headed and Irish, who caught my eye as I exited the town library. I went home and wrote a description of him. I named him. He was Sean. He'd participate in the 1832 battle of the Black Hawk War that took place in the Apple River Fort. Of course there was much research done before "Sean's War" and "Sean's Quest" came into print, but I loved learning about the background of this whole area. The recreation of the Fort is a story in itself.

[Susan]

Ah... but when did the actual novel idea begin. Was the thread born when my grandmother introduced me to The Black Stallion series? Did it begin during a trail ride in the forest? Did it flow from watching my grandchildren interact with our horses? Selah's Sweet Dream is the result of a lifetime of loving and living with horses. The catalyst was my three year old grandsweet leading (haha) a paint horse-puppy.

[Justin]

What a great thread. Love reading the inspiration for everyone's stories.

[Justin]

My Inspiration for The Magic Shop series:


I was working on another (unreleased) book, and got stuck. Someone in my writer’s group was in the same situation, and she had decided to leave her work in progress behind, and to start on a new book. She encouraged me to do the same, but I was reluctant.

One night, I was watching an episode of Fringe (a good Sci-Fi show), and I was thinking about twisting a sci-fi theme and turning it fantasy. There was a great scene about a pawnshop, and a universal soldier entering and asking the shopkeeper for “the back room.” For whatever reason, that stuck with me. So, I wrote a scene about a young boy that had to miss out on an afternoon of Basketball (my favorite sport) because he had to watch his grandparent’s shop. As he was sulking, a stranger comes in, and asks for “the back room.” They have a strange interaction, and Marcus discovers that there is a shop within the shop, filled with real magical items. Although he did it with good intentions, Marcus sells something that he wasn’t supposed to and thus commences a crazy adventure to set things right in a world he never knew existed.

I'm currently working on the sequel, The Shadow's Servant.

[Justin]

Jemima wrote: "My Princelings books were triggered by a combination of deciding my two guinea pigs, named Fred and George, seemed to be a philosopher and an engineer, plus a weird game we played in our guinea pig..."

Now that's a fun idea! (Love the Fred and George reference...assume HP?)

[Justin]

Steve wrote: "My series The Secret of the Tirthas was inspired by a cottage I stayed at in the remote Herefordshire countryside. The cottage had a garden of hedged 'rooms' full of exotic statues and art work. I ..."

Cool. Love the imagination.

[Justin]

Rebecca wrote: "My first book, The Ninja Librarian, was triggered by a smart-alec comment by our librarian, which led me to ask if he was some kind of ninja librarian or something. Boom, the story ..."

LOL. That's great.