Where my story ideas come from

Where do you get your ideas? That’s a stock question almost every author gets asked at some point. For authors of crime fiction and horror, like me, it’s often asked with a tinge of, well, horror. I imagine the person’s thought bubble as either, “How does a nice girl like you think up so much murder and mayhem?” or “I’m going to back away slowly before she kills me and dissolves my body with quick lime.”¹ Today I’m going to share where my story ideas come from. The short answer is, everywhere. For the longer answer, keep reading.

But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and C. Lee McKenzie. Please stop by and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

It turns out that the IWSG had a similar question back in 2023, so if you were reading my blog back then, some of this will be a repeat.

Where my story ideas come from

Like I said, my ideas come from all over the place. Also, the idea that kicks off a story often gets reshaped or even cut entirely from the finished version. This is why I tell people, ideas are cheap and plentiful. It’s the sustained effort and perseverance to turn them into stories that matters. Or, put more succinctly:

That said, here’s a look at a few of my stories and what inspired them.

Where the ideas for my novels came from

I’ve completed one novel, Vanishing, Inc., currently dying a slow, painful death at the bottom of the query trenches, and am revising another, Delta Dawn.

• Vanishing, Inc.: I woke up one morning with an image in my head of a woman dying in a tiny cottage and how she might get closer to the spirit world as she got closer to death. Through a series of what-ifs (What if the cottage was built on a thin place where the dead are closer to this world? What if the cottage was built on a time portal? What if the main character was hiding rather than dying?), that image morphed into an abused wife fleeing a psychotic ex, moving into a cabin in the northern Arizona mountains, and finding a strange (and hot!) man in her living room, claiming to be a time traveler from 1910.
• Delta Dawn: This was the first novel I imagined writing but the second one I wrote. I’m not sure how the idea formed, but I knew I wanted to write a story about a woman who returns to the Central Valley in California to deal with her dying father. Once I started outlining, the poor woman ended up in the crosshairs of a serial killer. Pro tip for a happy life: don’t be one of my fictional characters.

Where the ideas for my short stories came from

I won’t list all of my stories here, but I’ll share the inspiration for a few of them.

• Proof Text: The first short story I ever wrote (other than a terrible one in high school) was a 900-word flash piece called Proof Text. I got the idea for that one when I was cleaning my garage in Flagstaff while my husband was out of town. While organizing tools and garden supplies (no, I didn’t have any quick lime), an image popped into my head of an exhausted farm wife pissed off at having to do a bunch of farm work alone, because her husband was dead. Wanna know the whole story? Read Proof Text online, free.
• Collateral Damage: This story was inspired by a guy Long-Suffering Husband and I bought a piece of equipment from. Dude lived on about 300 acres about 20 miles outside of Winslow, Arizona, in an old airplane hanger. He had a whole prepper compound built out there. He talked our ears off for 3 hours, because he was clearly lonely (his wife left him… can’t imagine why). The idea that got me started was, what if the doomsday preppers turn out to be right? If you’re reading this, Carl, thanks for the inspiration. If you want to read Collateral Damage, sign up for my newsletter, and you’ll get a free copy.
• Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee: My first Deathlehem contribution, this story took form when Long-Suffering Husband and I were driving home from Phoenix to Tucson. That stretch of I-10 is boring as hell, and we were trying to amuse ourselves. For some reason, the idea of a sentient GPS popped into my head, and the story took shape from there. You can find this story in the 2021 Deathlehem anthology.
• The Fine Print: My second Deathlehem contribution. I’ve always been fascinated by Faustian bargains, from Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus to “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” as well as the question, What would make a good person do a terrible thing? I noodled on those ideas and came up with The Fine Print. You can find it in the 2022 Deathlehem anthology.
• The Fourth Man: Some of you know that my mom had dementia for many years before she died. One of her most disturbing symptoms was paranoid delusions–people were trying to kill her, her childhood friend had been murdered, etc. Dementia sucks. So much. Anyway, I started thinking about what if an elderly person was convinced something terrible had happened but was dismissed as being senile/delusional? You can read The Fourth Man free online.
• And finally, Anonymous Master. Anonymous Master is a 750-word flash piece I submitted to a contest back in April (I’m still awaiting the results). I keep track of story ideas in an Evernote notebook, so when I decided to enter this contest, I read through my ideas file, looking for inspiration. I’m going to be a little vague about exactly what the idea was, to avoid spoilers, but it had to do with a dying man who has a secret. I’ll post here when the contest results come out.

How I keep track of story ideas

As I mentioned, I keep an Evernote notebook for story ideas. Evernote is installed on all my computers, my phone, and my tablet, so I can usually jot ideas down whenever and wherever they strike (unless I’m in the shower³). I’ve been known to pull off the highway to capture an idea before it’s gone, because no matter how sure I am that I’ll remember the idea, I won’t.

Writing updates

Not a lot to report this month. I still haven’t decided what to do with Vanishing, Inc., though I’m leaning toward revising based on agent feedback and resubmitting to the 2 agents who expressed interest in seeing a revision. I’m still waiting to hear the results of the Central Valley Fiction Writers flash fiction contest. I’m still plugging away on revising Delta Dawn and getting some really useful feedback from critique partners.

Life updates

Back in February, I shared that Long-Suffering Husband is dealing with some serious health issues. We’ve been through months of navigating the health care system (a hell I wouldn’t wish on anyone), but he is finally seeing a great specialist and as of yesterday has started on treatment to slow the progression of his disease. We both have good and bad days, but we’re doing our best to stay positive and enjoy our lives. Life is (mostly) good!

The memery

I just discovered there’s a subreddit called r/WritingMemes. That whooshing sound you hear is my productivity being sucked into a parallel universe in which r/WritingMemes does not exist. Here we go:

I’m still embarrassed about the time a few years ago when I was visiting my BFF from high school, and she asked what my novel in progress was about. I babbled like an idiot. Sigh.

I’m the kind of proofreader that can spot an extra space after a period in someone else’s work, but no matter how many times I edit my own, a few typos will sneak through. Sigh.

And finally:

In my case, substitute swearing for crying.

And on that note, I’m outta here. Happy Pride to all who celebrate!

---

1. I really should insert an affiliate link for purchasing quick lime.²
2. Of course I had to go to Amazon to see if they sell quick lime. Spoiler alert: they do. It’s advertised as a soil amendment for your garden. Yeah. Uh huh. For my garden. Of course. Wait, no, don’t dig over there! Also, now my search history includes the phrase, Where to buy quick lime. Chill, FBI. I’m just a writer. I wouldn’t hurt a fly…
3. True story: I got tired of trying to remember shower ideas long enough to write them down, so I bought a waterproof notepad and kept it in my shower. From that day forward, I never had another writing idea in the shower. I finally threw the pad away, and the ideas came back. My muse, the drunken floozie, is cruel and perverse.