Where do you get your ideas?
From time to time I give presentations to mystery
fans and I always allow a few minutes at the
end of my talk for questions and answers. By
far, the most frequently asked question is,
"Where do you get your ideas?" I touched on
this subject in one of my past columns that
I titled
"Thinking like a writer." The ideas are
endless and they’re everywhere you look, you
just have to be paying attention. The seed can
be very small and, if properly nurtured can
grow into a very big story. I’ll give you some
examples from my own experience.
Many years ago I read a short article in a
Detroit newspaper about a 91 year old man who
thwarted an armed robbery by taking the guns
away from the two 25 year old bandits and then
beating them into unconsciousness before calling
the police. The old man was pictured in a fighting
stance. It seems that he had once been the Canadian
heavyweight boxing champion. About five years
later I saw the same photo in the paper only
this time it was attached to an obituary. But
the whole story immediately came back to me
and I remembered every detail. I decided that,
if a story could have that kind of impact on
me, it could serve as the germ for a full length
novel. It became, The Unreal McCoy.
My parents were both in show business and so
I more or less grew up in that world... well,
at least I was an observer. And one of my many
lifelong passions has been motorcycling. My
second book, Turn Left at September,
deals with a young lady in show business being
pursued by the leader of an outlaw motorcycle
gang. I guess you could say I drew that story
from personal experience.
The third book had a very different inspiration.
Some recent research into my family tree uncovered
the fact that an uncle of mine who went missing
in action during the Second World War had, many
years later been declared killed in action and
posthumously awarded the Bronze Star. The family
never knew about this heroic award. I couldn’t
figure a way to make this type of situation
the centerpiece of a murder mystery so I made
it the back-story and built my mystery, The
First Domino around it. I was amazed at
how easy it was to write a story, "upside-down."
I have other tales as well. I’m working on
a book right now based on the treasure of Poverty
Island, a Michigan legend about four hundred
million dollars worth of gold bullion at the
bottom of Lake Michigan that was once featured
on Robert Stack’s Unsolved Mysteries
television series. Treasure hunters have been
searching for this prize since the Civil War...
But I know where to find it.
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