Grace A. Johnson
I read. It's the best way to be inspired. Reading good works that make you want to pick your pen up and try something new. Reading bad works that make you want to go in and rephrase someone's sentence. (Which I have wanted to do before.)
If I'd never picked up a book, then not only would I not know how to write, but I wouldn't have any idea what to write about. Between books and TV shows and movies, there is inspiration all around. And most of my ideas come from things I've read or seen.
But there is also inspiration in other places. People, whose smile and bright blue eyes or mistakes or achievements can spark anything from a popular television show to a hit song to a bestselling novel. Places, that can trigger scenes or ideas or give you a new setting for a novel. Things, such as a ring that could have magic powers or a pair of red heels that could magically transport someone home or a wardrobe that could be the secret entrance into a whole new world.
Sometimes, though, a story comes about in a different way. Not from a movie or a person or a place, but just a spark from out of nowhere. My debut novel, Held Captive, came about like that. I hadn't given a pirate book any thought whatsoever, hadn't actually been interested in pirates or that era when I suddenly decided to write a pirate book. Of course, I had little to no idea what it would actually be about, aside from pirates. So I thought, "Why not do something classic? Two rival pirates searching for the same treasure." Well, I'm not sure what happened, but I ditched that idea and replaced it by the most random of all plot concepts, something I gave absolutely no thought at all, that a female pirate would be captured and taken to her birth father, a man she'd never known existed.
I believe that the Lord gave me this idea, that He had given me the characters and the setting and the plot because He wanted me to write this story. And I'm so glad He did. He is my inspiration.
If I'd never picked up a book, then not only would I not know how to write, but I wouldn't have any idea what to write about. Between books and TV shows and movies, there is inspiration all around. And most of my ideas come from things I've read or seen.
But there is also inspiration in other places. People, whose smile and bright blue eyes or mistakes or achievements can spark anything from a popular television show to a hit song to a bestselling novel. Places, that can trigger scenes or ideas or give you a new setting for a novel. Things, such as a ring that could have magic powers or a pair of red heels that could magically transport someone home or a wardrobe that could be the secret entrance into a whole new world.
Sometimes, though, a story comes about in a different way. Not from a movie or a person or a place, but just a spark from out of nowhere. My debut novel, Held Captive, came about like that. I hadn't given a pirate book any thought whatsoever, hadn't actually been interested in pirates or that era when I suddenly decided to write a pirate book. Of course, I had little to no idea what it would actually be about, aside from pirates. So I thought, "Why not do something classic? Two rival pirates searching for the same treasure." Well, I'm not sure what happened, but I ditched that idea and replaced it by the most random of all plot concepts, something I gave absolutely no thought at all, that a female pirate would be captured and taken to her birth father, a man she'd never known existed.
I believe that the Lord gave me this idea, that He had given me the characters and the setting and the plot because He wanted me to write this story. And I'm so glad He did. He is my inspiration.
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What's your new novel about? And when do you think you'll be finished?
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