WHERE DO i GET MY IDEAS? by Cheryl Hollon
Where
do I get my ideas?
This
is the single most popular question for authors and for me is the most
difficult to answer. There are two difficulties with this question. First, it
feels very personal and second, I’m afraid the source might disappear if I talk
about it. Unreasonable, perhaps, but there it is.
Frankly,
I'm not sure where they start. I absolutely know when they arrive. My keyboard
recognizes the speed and ease of the words that flow onto the page. My ideas
for stories cannot be separated from my life as a girl, a woman, a wife, a
mother, an engineer and an author. As far as I can tell, everything that has
contributed to make me who I am is swirled into a massive reservoir of waiting
ideas.
Almost
anything will spark the origin for a story. A song – a chat with a friend – a
walk in our neighborhood – a great meal – a new vacation spot – a conversation
overheard – a perfect location to hide a body. The real difficulty is not
coming up with ideas. The trouble is to choose one of those darlings that has
the promise to be the beginning of a compelling story.
My
biggest challenge is an unreasonable fear that talking about them destroys
their arrival and chases them away into the black hole of writer’s block.
Consequently, I never talk about a work-in-progress until I have a completed
rough draft. At that point, the story is set and I’m not afraid it will
evaporate.
Is
this really my answer? Yes, this feels right. The short version – my ideas come
from my life. To keep the ideas flowing, I must live fully and observe. How
fantastic is that?
About
Pane and Suffering:
To
solve her father's murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb
must shatter a killer's carefully constructed façade. . .
After
Savannah's father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to
return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs--including the
fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over
ownership to her father's trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh
Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart
attack.
As
if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn't suspicious enough, Savannah
discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is
in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it's up to Savannah to piece
together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father's
apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to
crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out
of the picture. . .
############
Meet
the author:
Cheryl
Hollon writes full time after she left an engineering career designing and
building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England,
Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India. Fulfilling the dream of a
lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass
art. In the small glass studio behind the house, Cheryl and her husband George
design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass and painted glass
artworks.
You
can visit Cheryl and her books at
Cheryl Hollon |
Buy links:
Comments
I've done some hobby-type work in stained glass, and once interviewed a man, a true Old World artisan who earned his apprenticeship restoring ancient glass in England’s Canterbury Cathedral after WW II.
I might pick up your book to check out the mystery as well as the glass part - I hope there are some interesting facts to learn (like in those old Dick Frances mysteries).
Thanks for letting us meet Cheryl and her writing, Marilyn!