Readers always wonder where a writer’s inspiration comes from. They’d be surprised that it isn’t always from pictures of hunks or hunkettes. Even I’m surprised sometimes at the ideas I get.
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For me, the star of my latest release, Undercover Lover (available at Siren), is Liz Aspen’s coach house. It’s based on a real building that my husband and I discovered on our walks in our neighborhood. I don’t remember which came first, the characters or the house. I just knew the house would be an important feature. Sam Bolt lives in an apartment in the Victorian next door and yearns to know the owner of the pretty, homey coach house. It was exciting to imagine the interior and to draw up my own idea of the plans.
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My very first published novel, Ancient Ties (available at Loose Id), a time travel to Roman 
Britain, was inspired by my visits to the Roman Museum in Bath, England. The first time I was there, I took a photo of a Roman soldier’s tombstone. When my pictures were developed, the outline of the tombstone was clear, but the carving in the middle was hazy. I joked that the soldier was reaching out to me. Three years later I returned to Bath with my new husband and took the same photo. This time, it was clear all the way. I guess my soldier approved of my choice. The outcome? A novel starring Janney Forrester, who travels back in time to meet Roman soldier Marek Benin Verus in Aquae Sulis, the Bath of the 2nd Century.Â
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One of my favorite stories, but then they all are, is Mercenary Desires (coming soon from Siren). This story was inspired, believe it or not, by a cough drop commercial on TV. It was amazing how said cough drop transformed an unattractive man into a major hunk. I took the idea a bit further and created Rowdy Pierce, mercenary. He saves the life of Sara Stewart, upscale jewelry designer. All Sara sees at first is a scary, bearded hulk of a guy and ends up falling for the tender, gentle, fierce lover who cleans up quite well.
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Inspiration is both the joy and the bane of a writer’s existence. We’re not like “normal†people. We don’t just read a newspaper article, see something on TV, or spot someone out on the street and let it go. Writers, as naturally as breathing, come up with a story snippet, a genesis of characters, sometimes a whole new world.
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So, fellow writers, I invite you to share the inspiration for ideas you’ve had. Or, if you’re not a writer, can you imagine something inspiring you enough to yearn to write a story about it?
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Please visit my website for more information about me and my work – Jane Leopold Quinn
Jane
- About the Author
- Posts in the Past
I’m a multi-published author of highly sensual novels, novellas, and short stories. I love the creative process and am constantly, madly writing and revising the “next great book.†Nothing gives me more satisfaction than bringing two people together for a happily-ever-after ending. Writing romance is the greatest job in the world, my passion and niche in life.
Creativity in romance authors isn’t usually limited to writing. My other interests include building and decorating doll houses and miniature room boxes, as well as designing silk flower arrangements. Next up? Mosaics…
I live in Chicago, overlooking the park and Lake Michigan, with my loving, supportive husband.
Great blog. It’s interesting to see where ideas come from. Reading Ancient Ties, I could tell you’d been to Bath. Your descriptions were so clear yet unintrusive. You set the scene perfectly. I love that book.
For my inspirations: Creme Brulee Upset was inspired by food. A Wish in Time was inspired by the concept of identity, and Baby Drop (unpublished) was inspired by a news report of an abandoned baby.
I look forward to reading other’s inspirations as well.
Laurel
Ideas come from everywhere. Little League games inspired my story No More Secrets, No More Lies. CSI’s shows inspired my Todd Hollow series coming out in the Fall. I love how crimes can be solved with forensics. Not too many get away with murder anymore. Good thing. Baking a cake inspired my story A Catering Affair of which I’m working on the edits. Thoughts gel, and take form, and voila, suddenly there’s a scenario being formed, taking root, and before you know it you’re behind a computer screen and typing furiously away at the keyboard. And earning high reviews like Jane’s stories have done and are well deserved.
Collette
Hi Laurel, thanks for commenting. Yes, I’d been to Bath several times and did a lot of book research on the layout of the place. Most of it didn’t get into the final book, but I needed to know it to understand the 2nd Century Romans.
I loved both your books, as different as they were. The recipes in Creme Brulee Upset were so delicious sounding. Since I don’t cook or bake much, I didn’t try them, but they sure could have been tried by another reader.
As for Baby Drop and the abandoned baby story, that’s what I mean about how we get ideas for stories and want to expand on them in our own way.
jane
Jane, I love this post! How fun to know how your books were conceived. I especially love the way you got your idea from the the soldier in Bath. He was most definitely reaching out to you. 🙂
Great post, Jane. I’ve taken inspiration from songs, places, friends, travel, newspaper and magazine articles…anywhere and everywhere. I have the opposite of writer’s block: I have so many ideas I don’tknow what to write!
I look forward to your next release.
Mallory
It is always interesting to find out where ideas come from, thanks for sharing yours! Did the setting in Roman Brittan cause any issues or lead your story in a direction that you did not originally think it would go? It is fascinating how a setting, particularly one in the past with different social norms etc can alter the direction of a story.
Collette, that’s exactly what I mean about being a born writer. Nothing escapes our minds. There’s a story in everything.
Hi Wendi, I joked about how he was reaching out to me years before I even thought about writing in the first place. The idea and the story always stuck with me for about 10 years.
Thanks Mallory. I get writer’s block in the middle of the story when I wonder where it’s going or where I should take it, but the ideas never stop. I have a list on my desk of story ideas.
As far as my next releases, I have a short story in The Legends of Loving, Texas series at Red Rose coming out probably late July. And I have 2 short stories coming out soon at Siren. 2009 will be a good year for me. I don’t know what I’ll be doing in 2010, but I do have my list. 🙂
jane
Hi Ben, thanks for commenting. Yes, different historical periods have challenges. For example, in ancient Roman times, until roughly the 2nd Century, men and women bathed nude together. At some point, that was outlawed. I fudged a little bit because I wanted Marek to be nude (obviously, since I’m a girl), and I wanted Janney to be too shy (since she is from the 21st Century) to be nude in the baths. Also, the Roman moral code was pretty loose, but after Marek met Janney, there was no question that he would be faithful to her.
The whole story of Ancient Ties just evolved with no prior plotting or planning of scenes. So every new thing was a lovely surprise for me. Especially the relationship between Marek and his son Leonidas – their relationship as they reconciled. I actually cried as I was writing some of their scenes.
jane
Jane,
Loved your post. I’m not sure where I get the inspiration for a story. So far they just seem to pop up. Though now that I think about it I usually have a character or character first.
Lavada
Hi, Jane, Your experience with Bath shines through in “Ancient Ties.” I love your tale of the soldier in the photograph inspiring the story. He is a great hero, and the scene in the baths was great.
My inspiration for Charlie in “Secrets and Sacrifices” came from the story of Jessica Lynch, the woman soldier who was captured and rescued in the Irag war. I have an article about women soldiers during the Civil War on my website.
I can’t really pinpoint my inspiration for my other two Civil War books beyond my love for time period.
Thanks for a great topic!
Diane Wylie
Jane,
Great blog! It’s so true that most anything a writer sees and hears can inspire a story. In my western romances I find ideas from my family stories of Texas and the old west. The caves of New Mexico and Mexico to the south are responsible for an adventure/suspense I’ve started writing. A family story inspired a victorian England romance which has evolved to include laws passed in England in the late 1800s. I stumbled across the article about the laws online while researching, and I knew they were exactly what my romance story needed. So yes, there’s all kinds of inspiration! 🙂
Most of my stories are inspired by American Civil War reenactments–I’m a reenactor–visits to museums or battlefields. I like to imagine what it had been like to live then and experience the pain of war driving lovers and families apart. The heroine in my time travel, Erin’s Rebel, is partly based on how I would’ve reacted if I’d been sent back in time to a Confederate army camp.
And the hero in my short story, Angel of My Dreams, is a modern-day reenactor, who experiences memories of having lived a former life during the war. I based his reactions on male military reenactors I know personally.
I am so jealous about the Bath England part! I have a ghost photo my daughter took…at Alcatraz prison. Just my luck!
My inspiration comes from situations and characters, most often.
I’ve also been to the museum in Bath and was just entranced by it! I love that the Assembly Rooms are sitting so close to the Roman ruins. Fascinating place, and I’m sure they’ve done a lot of excavation since I last visited in ’90. Guess it’s time to go back.
When I write, inspiration can come from a vague feeling, or a specific place, person or event. A trip to donate blood was the basis for Black Planet: Dragon’s Blood. And sometimes I just catch a line of dialogue in my head and run with it. “You’d better split those bitches up!” Was the first line in Belle Starr, and I had no idea where that line would take me.
Great blog, Jane!
Hi Lavada, the Roman soldier story inspiration was easy to remember, but in some cases I can’t quite recall where the idea came from. Sometimes the inspiration is so tiny that you don’t even realize it.
Hi Diane, love for a time period, like yours for the Civil War, is enough inspiration. There’s a TV Western from the late 60s that is my inspiration for the Westerns I’ve written (not published yet). I’ve always been enamored with the Old West.
That’s interesting about Jessica Lynch being your inspiration for Secrets & Sacrifices. I thought your prison escape scene was one of the most hair raising scenes I’ve ever read. Kudos. 🙂
Jeanmarie, having a rich family history is so neat. I know nothing about mine except their names. I have birth, marriage and death notices, but not much more knowledge. I do have a story started that stars characters named after my great grandparents.
Hi Susan, more history inspiration. Naturally, we put ourselves into our stories, imagining how our heroine or even hero would feel being put in a certain situation.
jane
Hi Aileen, you mean you have a photo that looks like it’s a ghost? That is really cool. How about a hero wrongly accused who’s been sentenced to Alcatraz? 🙂
jane
You’d better split those bitches up? Great line, Belinda. Things like this are why writers always better keep paper and pen handy, in every room of the house, even the bathroom. In the purse, for sure. Thanks for stopping by.