Joanne Macgregor
Hi Leia, thanks for asking! I get ideas from anywhere and everywhere:
My adult psychological thriller, Dark Whispers, was sparked by a newspaper article about a psychopathic doctor and I wondered what I would do if one of my clients in my psychological practice reported, in hypnosis, a traumatic experience at the hands of a doctor.
The title and idea for the Law of Tall Girls came about when I saw a short girl with a very tall boyfriend, and I joked to my own daughter that when I was made Queen of the World, I'd pass The Law of Tall Girls forbidding that. (I'm a tall girl, myself, lol.)
In 2012, I was lying wide awake in the middle of the night in a B&B in England, when a vision of a scarred girl standing in front of a class of teens, and being sneered at by a cute boy fell into my head. I knew she thought he found her ugly, but that wasn't the real reason for his attitude. That was the beginning of one of my YA contemporary romances, Scarred.
Hushed was born when I revisited my favorite childhood fairy tale - The Little Mermaid - and realized this was actually a story about how young women too often give up their "voices" and identity when they fall in love, in a self-sacrificing attempt to win approval from men. I challenged myself to retell the story in a modern, realistic (non-fantasy) story.
The Recoil Trilogy was born from a combination of sources: seeing a TV documentary on professional army snipers and being gobsmacked at how little bothered they seemed about killing people, and wondering what it would be like to be an expert markswoman who truly did not want to hurt or kill; combined with a horror at the then spreading Ebola epidemic; plus concern about political developments in the world which constrain personal freedoms under the guise of providing "security".
So, really, anything can serve as inspiration for story or character. For me, ideas are the fun and easy part - it's writing (and finishing!) the book that's the hard part!
Hope that answers your question :)
Always keep reading,
Joanne Macgrgegor
My adult psychological thriller, Dark Whispers, was sparked by a newspaper article about a psychopathic doctor and I wondered what I would do if one of my clients in my psychological practice reported, in hypnosis, a traumatic experience at the hands of a doctor.
The title and idea for the Law of Tall Girls came about when I saw a short girl with a very tall boyfriend, and I joked to my own daughter that when I was made Queen of the World, I'd pass The Law of Tall Girls forbidding that. (I'm a tall girl, myself, lol.)
In 2012, I was lying wide awake in the middle of the night in a B&B in England, when a vision of a scarred girl standing in front of a class of teens, and being sneered at by a cute boy fell into my head. I knew she thought he found her ugly, but that wasn't the real reason for his attitude. That was the beginning of one of my YA contemporary romances, Scarred.
Hushed was born when I revisited my favorite childhood fairy tale - The Little Mermaid - and realized this was actually a story about how young women too often give up their "voices" and identity when they fall in love, in a self-sacrificing attempt to win approval from men. I challenged myself to retell the story in a modern, realistic (non-fantasy) story.
The Recoil Trilogy was born from a combination of sources: seeing a TV documentary on professional army snipers and being gobsmacked at how little bothered they seemed about killing people, and wondering what it would be like to be an expert markswoman who truly did not want to hurt or kill; combined with a horror at the then spreading Ebola epidemic; plus concern about political developments in the world which constrain personal freedoms under the guise of providing "security".
So, really, anything can serve as inspiration for story or character. For me, ideas are the fun and easy part - it's writing (and finishing!) the book that's the hard part!
Hope that answers your question :)
Always keep reading,
Joanne Macgrgegor
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