It’s a question I get asked all the time when I visit schools. The trouble is, it’s such a blimmin’ difficult one to answer!

I have a mad theory that stories ‘exist’ out there in the ether and we ‘find’ them. Just to mix up my metaphors, I also picture archaeologists unearthing artefacts that have been buried for thousands of years. A bit of chipping away here and some gentle brushing there and…

Voila! A shape begins to emerge from that rough lump of rock. It’s a bit like that with half-formed stories.

But where does the initial spark come from?

To try and answer this I decided to trace the genesis of my book Cracks from the first moment it entered my head.

1. What if?

So I was standing in the shower one day, looking at a tiny crack in one of the tiles. ‘What if the walls started cracking open right now,’ I thought.  Then, ‘Hang on! What if it was only me who could see it!’ [I know....but as they say, you don't to be mad but it helps...]

Maybe all stories begin with a variation on the question, ‘what if?’



2. Big ambitions

When I started to write Cracks, I had no publishing deal. The book may have remained in a drawer for ever more. I’d been trying to get Dark Ride published for ages and was feeling a bit jaded with the whole process. With nothing to lose, I decided to write the book I wanted to read. Dammit, I was going to entertain MYSELF!

I was an early fan of The Hunger Games and other dystopian fiction, including Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and Unwind by Neil Schusterman. I wanted to write something in that vein simply because I liked reading that genre.

Katniss in The Hunger Games film

I also wanted to provoke that delicious thrill you get when you read something truly exciting.

Or… watched it.

A shameless fan girl for the David Tennant  era of Doctor Who, the best episodes (such as ‘Blink’) also had that magical quality I was after.

3. Helpful earworms

Dave Cousins did a brilliant post here recently about how music shapes his writing. I also find music inspiring but it has to conjure the exact mood I’m trying to pin down. Cracks is set in a repressive future and Muse’s album The Resistance has similar themes.

This song for example, Uprising, had exactly the right vibe for me. I listened to the album on a constant loop while I was writing.

4.  Photos and pins

Once I’d got started, I needed visual inspiration for the world I was creating. Part of the book is set in Sheffield in 2024. I had a trip up there one day to take some pictures of buildings and various settings. But the most helpful images were taken closer to home, in London’s Shoreditch. The contrast between old buildings and shiny new ones chimed with the pictures in my mind. This is some graffiti I found on a wall. It made me think of my character Cal, alone and in a strange and hostile world.  I used this image as my screensaver while I was writing.

So there you are. The answer to ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ was, in the case of Cracks:

Caroline Green’s first novel, Dark Ride, was nominated for the Branford Boase award and won the RNA Young Adult award. Cracks has been nominated for the Essex, Leeds, Sefton Super Reads, the Catalyst and Amazing Book Awards!

Find out more on Caroline’s website HERE

Follow Caroline on twitter: @carolinesgreen

Watch the Cracks trailer HERE!

Find Dark Ride on amazon HERE

Find Cracks on amazon HERE

… and coming out in June… Hold Your Breath