Tiger: Hello, everyone! Today, I'm hosting a guest post from author K.C. Blake, who's discussing where she gets her inspiration for writing. I like her "never off the clock" take on writing, and the idea that inspiration comes at odd times, when we're busy with daily life. :-)
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"Where do ideas come from? I hear this question a lot. I have been interviewed more times than I can count and most of them ask me where the idea for the book came from. So here is my list, a list of where I find my ideas.
- Movies/Books: As a writer I am never off the clock. Even when watching television or reading someone else�s work, I do it as a writer. Every once in a while I will pick up a great angle from a movie or book. You shouldn�t copy someone else�s idea, of course, but sometimes the writer went in a different direction than I would have gone. That gets me to thinking. If a movie or book doesn�t have the story I originally thought it did, I will later write that story myself.
- Real Life Events: This is a great way to pick up ideas. Nothing is crazier than real life. I laugh all the time at people who shake their heads at fiction because �it couldn�t possibly happen that way.� Yeah, right. I have heard and seen some things that no one would believe if you wrote them into a book. Real life is way crazier than fiction.
- A Comment: Sometimes a person will say something that sends my mind on a fantastic journey. Back when I was in college several people came up to me, insisting they�d seen me downstairs or on the other side of the campus. It wasn�t me. So I started to wonder if I had a twin or if something more sinister was happening. The thought gave birth to a book that I hope to one day finish and publish.
- Dreams: This is one of my all-time favorite ways of finding a good story. I love it when I have an intensely vivid dream where I�m being chased by a werewolf or trying to hide the fact that I�m the killer or any number of things. That�s why I keep a notebook beside my bed.
I think those are the main places my ideas come from. Then I take the little crumb of an idea and add to it until I have a complete plot with characters, conflict, and endless possibilities. Witch Hunt (available at Amazon April 2012) started off with the idea of what witches would do if they had powers. I figured teen witches would use those powers to play games that ordinary kids couldn�t. That idea has turned into two books with more on the way. Happy writing and reading!"
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Tiger: Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, K.C.! Your story about potentially having a double/twin on campus reminds me of when I was in college and was acquainted with twin girls for six whole months before I learned they were twins--I never saw them in the same place, so I thought they were one girl who changed her outfits a lot.
Readers, to get another look at K.C.'s fiction, you can check out her blog, Ghost Writer!
Guest Post: Writing Inspiration by K.C. Blake Link Free Download
