Goodreads asked Steve Semler:

How do you get inspired to write?

Steve Semler *laughs*

I have been writing creatively since I was 11 years old, or possibly earlier. Fifth grade, maybe? My first real work was what we would call fan fiction these days. I read Watership Down, by Richard Adams, and wrote several short stories following up on the book's characters. I've been writing in one way or another ever since. I never did anything with those first stories, and I can't find them again, but that's where I would say I got started.

What inspires me to write these days is a "what if?" question. Here are some of those recent questions. See if you can figure out which go with which of my stories:
- "What if a young wife got superpowers and her husband didn't? What would that do to their relationship, and what would they realize about themselves and their relationship?"
- "What if a girl's superhero mother died saving the world? What would that do to her, and how would she handle the loss as she grew up?"
- "What if the new superhero feels like an impostor to the role, being so new and inexperienced? With so much riding on her decisions, and everyone looking to her for guidance, how would she handle the responsibility?"
- "What if there was a brain implant chip that gave people's rational brains an edge over the old brain 'fight, flight, or freeze' reflex? What if acceptance of that chip became a tipping point for the first viable third party in US politics in more than a century? What if it were discovered in the run-up to a presidential election that someone was hacking that chip?"

Ultimately, what inspires me is the "what if?" for a situation. I do a lot of business writing, and there is always something in those client situations that offers a host of "what if's" for me and the people in those organizations to explore. It's often just a matter of finding the most interesting or helpful "what if's" to use.

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