Triggering ideas

[John Dean]

I am preparing a writing workshop which focuses on ideas and which will attempt to spark some ideas for stories from those present in the room.

As anyone who has read my blogs will know, I have always been fascinated by where writers’ ideas come from.

I know that some writers respond first and foremost to plots, ideas they hear or read which become the germ of a story. They develop the storyline before focusing on characters and setting.

Some authors respond to characters. Maybe they see someone in the supermarket queue and an idea sparks to life featuring that person (I found a potential murderer that way!).

I react primarily to places, though. It’s the major trigger for. Something about a street, a room, a hillside gets the creative juices flowing and once I have the place sorted the rest comes together.