As a writer seeking inspiration my first stop is generally at Conjunction Junction to pick up an “if”. What if the dog is barking at the door because there’s a rougarou on the porch? Saying it ain’t so is like saying there’s no such thing as Santa. Well, as for me and Grandpa, we believe. After all, in every holiday movie the kind old man with the beard really is Santa. The chances are never zero. So, why not let my mind chase the answers to “what if” and be entertained?
I worked in the Emergency Room for years and the answer to “what now?”, has an endless number of “ifs” for an answer. Trust me in all those years, I never saw it all. That’s why I quit asking, until I became a writer. Now, it’s my bread and butter.
Asking “what if” is not the only source of inspiration for my writing. However, most of the other roads pass through it at some point. I once heard an old song by the Zombies titled, She’s Not There and a character materialized in my mind. The next thought was what if she’s not there because she’s a ghost that only my protagonist can see. Don’t look for her in my books. She’s not there because that one has not been published yet.
I probably shouldn’t admit it publicly but sometimes I just see things or hear characters’ voices pitching story ideas in my head. I know they’re not real. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good stories. But they are rarely complete stories, which sends me back to asking what if this or what if that needs to happen. If all this seems a bit chaotic, remember I trained for it.
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