Deborah Cooke: Author

One of the most common questions asked of authors is “where do you get your ideas?” I never have a good answer for this. Telling people that I have too many ideas and hate having the choose between them doesn’t ever seem to be the answer that is expected. The thing about ideas is that the best ideas appear suddenly in your mind.

That doesn’t mean, however, that you have to leave the process of inspiration completely to chance.

Yesterday, for example, I had an idea. I thought I’d tell you a bit about how it came to me because I did some specific things to encourage that idea to turn up.

I have been thinking about a story idea for a few weeks. I really like it. I have just a glimmer of it, so have only made some notes. I know the protagonist and her issue(s); I can hear her voice. I know the general gist of the idea and it intrigues me. It’s very tempting to dive into a story when inspiration first strikes, but an idea is a fragile thing – you can wear it out before you know what you’re going to do with it. I’ve learned to let ideas ripen a bit more before I start to write them down. In this case, I still had some big questions. What was the structure of the story? How could I tell this character’s story in a fresh and innovative way? Should it be a romance? A mystery? I wasn’t sure. The plot is a hybrid of many genre elements – my favourite kind! – so I have been thinking about the structure.

I wrote notes by hand of what I did know, including the scenes she’d given me. For me, it’s important at this point to hand write what I know – something about typing makes it “writing” and can spook the idea. My muse evidently thinks that handwritten notes don’t count. Maybe they’re just doodling.

At the end of my notes, I made a list of what I needed to know to continue. Some of these were questions about craft – structure, etc. – while others were research queries. This was several weeks ago. I put everything neatly in a folder and left it on the corner of my desk. Every three or four days, I’d have a peek in there, remind myself of what I liked about the core idea, maybe scribble a few more notes. This keeps the idea and my questions about it in my thoughts but not at the fore of them. I think of it as putting out breadcrumbs.

Then last night I was driving home in the rain. Everything was black and shiny. The roads were empty and it was very quiet. It was actually quite magical. Since it didn’t have a great deal to do, my imagination charged off into its enchanted forest. I just drove. By the time I got home, I had the structure of the story and the rest of the cast in my thoughts. (They are talkers, also my favourite kind.)

It seems as if the idea I needed came out of the blue, but actually I lured it out. By documenting the part of the story I knew, and identifying what I didn’t know, then giving it time to brew, I invited the idea to find me. It works. You just have to be patient.

As for the original idea, I have no clue where it came from. It just popped into my thoughts and waved hello. It was so intriguing that I had to invite it to stay.