Where Ideas Come From
Recently a friend asked, "Where do you come up with that, er, stuff?" I laughed and made a short answer long. It's long because there's no clear answer. Here's what I told him. Stephen King said (about talking with other authors), "We don't ask each other where ideas come from. We know what we don't know." I didn't understand it until a couple of years ago, but he's dead right. He and I also agree that they start with the words "what if...?" In some sense, it's really just that simple. What if a car came to life? What if there was a super deadly virus? What if a guy ran a really long prison breakout plan? Once you're able to accept that it can be that simple, ideas come from anywhere and everywhere. The hardest part is not judging yourself right away. Sure, you have to make choices at some point, but at first, you must be open to any and everything. My writing journey began in late 2016. I had some ideas running in my he
