“Where do you get your ideas from?”<\/p>\n
It’s a common question I receive shortly after I tell someone that I’m a writer. \u00a0Some people follow it up by telling me one of their own ideas, informing me that I can use it if I like. \u00a0I always politely decline.<\/p>\n
The unhelpful\u00a0answer is that my ideas come from all over the place. \u00a0Sometimes they’re purely internal. \u00a0Other times, I experience something, that creates a spark. \u00a0I have ideas all the time. \u00a0In fact, I have more story ideas than I have time to write.<\/p>\n
If I needed to be specific about where my story ideas came from, this is what I’d say:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gaming<\/strong><\/p>\n A link exists in my head between gaming and writing. \u00a0And when I say “gaming” I specifically mean tabletop roleplaying games. \u00a0World of Warcraft once inspired me to write a poem about an elven hunter, but graphical, computer based RPGs don’t trigger my writing itch like tabletop RPGs.<\/p>\n The Repossessed Ghost\u00a0<\/em>was born from a character I played in a tabletop game. \u00a0The character is quite a bit different, and none of the other elements from the game are present in the story. \u00a0I started with a character idea, and then created a world and a story for him to play\u00a0in.<\/p>\n The novel I’m starting in November is similar. \u00a0I created a character for an online, text-based RPG\u00a0named Simon. \u00a0I had a lot of fun with him, and I’ve known for years that I want to take the core of who he is and stick him in another world. \u00a0In a little over two weeks, I’m going to start the story I’ve been putting off. \u00a0I’m really excited to see where this goes!<\/p>\n Gaming is a great way for me to develop the personality and the voice of a character. \u00a0It is not so great a place for me to develop plots. \u00a0For that, I turn to…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Real life experiences<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in the airport last year, on my way to San Antonio for WorldCon. \u00a0I looked out the window\u00a0and\u00a0saw one of those little trucks whisk by, luggage piled in a heap on the back. \u00a0All around me stood\u00a0other travelers, waiting to get on the plane. \u00a0Below us, our belongings were already traveling.<\/p>\n It got me thinking about how our baggage takes a completely different trip than we do. \u00a0From there, my mind made the leap to, “What if our bodies were baggage?”<\/p>\n I thought about cramped seats, crying babies, popping ears, and the slow shamble we all must endure when boarding and leaving the plane. \u00a0I thought about all the things I hate about flying, and then I thought about a joke: “They’re always looking for the black box. \u00a0The black box. \u00a0Why don’t they make the whole plane out of the stuff they make the black box out of?”<\/p>\n And then I had my short story idea. \u00a0Shortly after returned from WorldCon, I wrote\u00a0Unclaimed Goods<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tragedy<\/strong><\/p>\n Sometimes, my motivation for writing isn’t to tell a story. \u00a0Every once in a while, I write to work through something. \u00a0The first novel, which some of my family has seen, was inspired from my Dad’s death. \u00a0I didn’t know it at the time, but I wrote it in order to help deal with my grief.<\/p>\n Shortly before I joined the Air Force, I experienced a different sort of loss. \u00a0I’m not going to go into the details, other than to say that my faith was shaken. \u00a0I wrote a very dark short story to deal with it. \u00a0It was blasphemous, really. \u00a0I poured all of my doubt and feelings of betrayal into it. \u00a0I’ve only shown it to one person, and I don’t have any plans of showing it to anyone else.<\/p>\n Some authors might be able to get away with pouring their tragedies onto the page and serving them up. \u00a0Most of us should probably avoid doing that, though. \u00a0If for no other reason, it’s going to be hard to edit and bring the quality to a serviceable level.<\/p>\n I have been able to tap into external tragedies, however. \u00a0A Clean Slate\u00a0<\/em>is born from my perceptions on the Patriot Act, and all of the craziness that we’ve endured since 9\/11. \u00a0There’s more going on in that story, but underneath it all, I’m working through some of my thoughts and feelings about the price of freedom versus the price of security.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n