Elzbieta Tibai asked Josh Lanyon:

Who or what is your biggest inspiration for your writing? And is it difficult to come up with ideas for your next project?

Josh Lanyon I think inspiration used to be more emotional and nebulous. A song, a sunset, a snippet of conversation could spark an idea. Now--possibly because I've been writing so long and have used so many ideas up--I have to search more actively for inspiration and that often comes from the real life and the news. True crime is a good source, but so is an archaeological find or an interview with an artist or reading history--or sometimes even another novel. It doesn't even have to be a good novel; terrible books are even better inspiration. :-D

Usually, if I've got as far as committing to a new project, I have a general idea of what I'm going to write. Ideas are usually not the hard part. What is more difficult is forcing myself to sit down and write out an outline--but the books are inevitably tighter, stronger and much quicker to write when I take the time and trouble to think it all through ahead of time--even when those original ideas significantly change in the course of writing. :-)

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