Where Story Ideas Come From

I can't know where other writers get their ideas because each writer is different. This sounds strange, but I don't really get ideas from anywhere. I've always felt that I have so many ideas already there just waiting to be discovered. It's like a bunch of secret idea doors that I know are there, but I've just got to find the right key for each one. And the right key is always different. Sometimes the key is another book. Or a movie. Or a documentary.

My screenplay, Her Daddys' Name is Joe (I still don't know if I love or loathe this title) started with a character inspired by the movie About a Boy. I spent my childhood summers in England, and About a Boy captures how I feel about London. So, my screenplay started out as a character, and it became a love letter to my favorite city. I would never have written that screenplay without listening to the dialogue in About a Boy. I heard the lead character's accent in my head and she spoke like some of the characters in the film. About a Boy was the key, and when I opened the door, I found all the pieces of a story I wanted to tell.

I started thinking about where ideas come from because I plan to start my first novel this year. I settled on historical romance. I'm obsessed with history (I would have been an Egyptologist in another life) and there are so many eras to choose from. Since first novels are rarely published, this will just be a practice novel - so I settled on an unusual era to write about. I'm obsessed with the 1930s and classic films so I'm going to write a romance about an actress in Hollywood's Golden Age. My obsession with history and movies was the key to unlocking the idea. And watching His Girl Friday over and over again for the rapid fire dialogue probably won't hurt either. His Girl Friday came out in 1940, but it has a screwball romantic comedic tone that I want to capture. Listening to movie dialogue always helps with my own dialogue.


After settling on an era for the first novel, I got ahead of myself and wrote lists of other eras to set my romances in. This week, I found another key that will create my second novel. Ha! In my head, there's already a second novel. The idea came from Edwardian Promenade, a history website run by a historical romance author. I read almost as many history sites as I do writing sites. The newest post was about African American owned newspapers in Washington D.C. during America's Progressive Era. I knew a little about the black aristocrats of Washington D.C. because of my own research, but what is taught about African Americans in school tends to be slavery, the Civil War, a little on Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights movement. There are all these gaps that don't get taught; so many interesting pieces of history that few people ever get to learn about. Which is why reading about history is so helpful in generating story ideas. And not just for historical fiction. Some stories can help generate ideas in any genre. I suppose that's what I've learned this week about getting ideas: watch, read, listen, learn.

Where do your story ideas come from?

Photos courtesy iStockphoto and Picture History