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Bookchat: Generating Writing Ideas [1]

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Date: 2023-01-11

The Coup Trilogy

Welcome to bookchat! Where you can talk about anything; books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.

As an author, one of the questions I get is:

Where do you get your ideas?

Ideas are literally all around us. Sources can be news events, conversations, social media, paintings, and walking through the mall. Ideas are everywhere if you just pay attention. It's really just a matter of noticing and then extrapolating.

Some sources of ideas:

My Facebook memories the other day referenced a meme about women’s clothes and pockets. And I realized that my book, The Duchess, could use magical pockets in some of the Duchess’ dresses. All women love pockets , even Duchesses. And who couldn't use a little magic. So I will be adding that item to my list of things to accomplish in my current rewrite. (Done. Duchess Ilene now has magical pockets!)

Someone, somewhere (I honestly don't remember where) mentioned the idea of two lesbians being put into magical swords. As it happens, I’m working on a book of short stories about swords, so I added a story about two women in love who decide to spend eternity together by making a set of magical swords. Unfortunately, their owners end up splitting them up and a hundred years later, they they are fighting on opposite sides of a conflict.

And how did I end up writing short stories about swords? I created a fractal that looked like Excalibur. One of my friends said, “Hey, that would make a great book cover.” Well, can't have a book cover without a book.

Sometimes other people’s work inspires me. Not to copy it, but it gives me the germ of an idea. A friend wrote a series of books that I would refer to as cosy science Fiction (Nathan Lowell’s Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series) And I thought, what kind of relatively low stakes science fiction story could I tell? And my idea of the voyages of a colony ship was born. It's next on my list after I finish the three books I’m working on.

My first book, A Line in the Sand, came about as a result of a tv show called Firefly. I was a fan and started writing fan fiction. In 2003, I wrote a piece of flash fiction that I decided had merit as a short story. After writing the short story, I decided there was the kernel of an idea for a novel here. Of course, I couldn't set it in the Firefly universe. (In 2003, the idea that there would be official Firefly fiction was ludicrous.) So I took my idea and made up new characters and designed a new universe for them to live in. Added some aliens. And voila, the Coup universe was born. It took 17 years to finish that book (that pesky work thing interfering), but once I retired, I whipped right through it and by then it was not a novel idea, but the idea for a trilogy. And now I’m writing the story of one of the alien characters in those books. So that initial 500 words somehow have morphed into a universe that I will probably continue to write in. I already have ideas for wring some prequels and somethings in the future of the Coup. You can find The Coup Trilogy here.

The next book I am going to publish, The Butler, was inspired by watching Downton Abbey and My Fair Lady. And a book called The Wizard’s Butler by Nathan Lowell. When I was watching Downton Abbey, I got to wondering what would it be like if those servants had magic. And suddenly I had a whole magic system designed in my head — servants with household magic, relatively small in scope (in theory) who used it to perform common noble household tasks like straightening the Duke’s messy desk, dusting, or cooking for 100 guests. Nobles had High Magic which was (again, in theory) the more powerful of the two. Couldn't use it to clean the silverware, but you could destroy an army with it. Add in a naïve young woman elevated to a role she was unprepared for and a bit of slow burn romance, and another book (and universe; the second book, The Duchess, is almost ready for publication) was born.

Leslye Penelope’s Monsters We Defy has me thinking about magical realism and historical fiction. I haven't decided on a specific historical era or event to write about, But I’m considering it. Who knows, maybe I will combine that idea with my love of all things space and combine the story of the 1960s space program with a bit of magic.

And speaking of Leslye, I asked her why she chose 1925 Washington, DC as the setting for Monsters We Defy. She told me that she had originally thought to set the book in New York, but she was writing during the pandemic and that meant that she would need to do her research closer to home in DC. And why 1925? Because that was the year of a huge KKK march in DC (an event referenced in the book). So there you have ideas coming from both historical events that caught her eye and current events and situations. And Leslye’s ideas are wonderful, go read her book; you won't regret it.

Thomas Doscher told me the inspiration for his Vixen War Bride series was reading about the American occupation of Japan after World War II. It's the story of the occupation of an alien planet. Rife with cultural mistakes, details of daily life of army guys in garrison, and some surprising events; the books are a joy to read, and a very different sort of military science fiction. Book 5, Cupcake Girls, comes out in February. His wonderful series can be found here: The Vixen War Bride Series.

Feel free to add the sources of story ideas you have had in the comments if you are a writer.

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