Where do authors get their ideas? What inspires them to spend all that time writing a novel that, perhaps, only a few people will read? These questions – and some suggested answers – will be my subject in this blog. I’ll share the source of many of my ideas and inspirations and explain how they have unleashed my own creativity. But there are some difficulties here, the most important being that, initially, it is often unclear where the inspirations came from. They might reveal themselves over time and their presence might be a surprise visit from a long-buried memory or piece of conversation.
Generally, I would say that I am inspired by history, by places, by photographs, by people, by snippets of overheard conversation, by films, by other books and articles in newspapers – particularly the local press. I am inspired by music – all music, from Abba to Mahler to Swing and from Elizabeth Schwarzkopf to Joan Baez. Music can stimulate memory and memory - or its unreliability - can be a great source of ideas.
I should also add that I am in the business of writing and selling books so that I hope readers of my blog might be tempted to buy a novel or two. Please click on a cover above if you wish to go to the book's Amazon page.
