Discover the story

Whether I am at a speaking event, or just chatting to someone about being a writer, one question invariably gets asked: How do you come up with your story ideas?

Every author will answer differently. There are many resources to prompt ideas, which some find helpful. Some are inspired by things they see and hear around them. Others might change an already existing story. Other famous novelists have a different approach. Daniel Handler notices everyday things and considers them in a different way. Cormac McCarthy used actual conversations with his son as his inspiration. One of my favourite authors, Ursula K Le Guin, is quoted as saying, “The air is full of tunes, I just reach up and pick one.”

I always start with a picture in my head. Master and Apprentice began when I saw an unhappy young boy sweeping a step in front of a tower. The Charred Blade* started with a man peering through a wire fence at night, watching a hulking shadow move on an old stone bridge. The Infilling* came to me with a picture of a young woman making her way home to a run-down house at night, in the rain.

Once I had the picture, I started asking questions. Why are you unhappy? Why are you drawn to that place? What world do you live in?

All my stories are character based, rather than plot driven. I love delving into a fictitious person’s life and watching it play out, so finding out about these images is a big part of my storytelling and I love a fantasy setting for my stories, because I get to put ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances.

Once I know the beginning, I then look at what I want to happen at the end of the book. Every book should have a happy ending, in my view, or at least the hope of one. (Spoiler alert!) The Last Mage** lets the reader decide for themselves what the epilogue means. If you are like me, the resolution will be a positive one, but some might prefer the possibility of a tragedy. For instance, who doesn’t love Spock sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise and her crew in The Wrath of Khan? Thankfully, we also had The Search for Spock afterwards, resurrecting him from the dead to explore new civilisations again.

I don’t have any plans to revisit Reez at the moment. I have too many other stories to tell. However, if I did, I already have a picture in my mind. A young girl sitting in a cart with five others, approaching an impenetrable barrier of trees and bushes. Beyond it, rising up above the trees is a massive tower.

Some people like to plot out all the details before they start to write, (plotters) but I don’t work that way. Once I have the beginning and end of a story, I start to write and let my imagination fill in the middle bit as I go. (pantsers) Not knowing what is going to happen next certainly makes for an interesting journey!

I always hand write the first draft of my story. Somehow, the action of a pen on paper stimulates my creativity far more than staring at a blank computer screen ever does. If I get stuck, I just make a notation and carry on writing. If I don’t like a word, I’ll underline it so that I know to change it later. Very often, by the time I get to the end, I have already decided on changes to the plot, or additional details that need to be included. When I start to type it up, some parts remain exactly the same wording, while other scenes change drastically. Very often, after beta readers have contributed their thoughts, the finished article bears very little resemblance to the first rough draft.

Writing a story is a very personal experience. No two people will approach it the same way. What you need to do, is discover how your mind works and tap into that creativity. My advice? Be bored and daydream. Ask questions like, “What if I discovered my elderly neighbour was actually a wizard hiding from his enemy?” or “What would happen if I was walking around a supermarket and realised everyone else had suddenly disappeared?” “If trees could talk, what would they say?”

Then discover the rest of the plot.

How do you come up with story ideas? I’d love to know!

*Publication dates yet to be announced.

** Final book in the Masters of Zelannor trilogy to be published in February 2023