How?

How?

How do you come up with your ideas of what to write?


I get asked that a lot, and my answer might actually surprise you.

I dream novel.

Yeah, you read that right. I dream most of my books. I know, it's totally weird. I don't dream very often, but when I do, I dream so vividly. I can see the characters, I can hear their voices so clearly.

Don't believe me?

I had a dream when I was in high school. It festered in my brain for years. Now? It's the main plot of Escaped.

True Story.

About six years ago, I had another dream. It was totally crazy and full of all these really weird sci-fi elements. Totally not my normal thing. But, with a little tweaking, it turned into The Sector.

I have countless other unfinished projects that all started out the same way: in a dream. Some of them might get written. Some of them are just scenes, glimpses into a moment between characters that have stuck with me for years, and need a ton of work to actually make a good story. Some of them will just be jotted down as an outline on paper, left behind for me to smile at and remember (like the one where that one guy who plays Superman - yeah, the hot one - moves in next door to high school me and wants to be my BF. Yep, that one is staying. haha). And then there are some dreams that no matter how hard I try, they just aren't good novel material.

But others? Others turn into a six-book-long series all partially written and waiting to be finished and sent off to the beta readers.

True Story.

Every author is different. No one will have the exact same answer to the "how" question. But we all have an answer.

So what's your how?

It doesn't have to be just about writing. It can be anything.

How did you come up with your awesome Lego creation?
How did you decide what subject to paint?

How did you come up with your creative idea, be it quilting, sewing, designing, architecture, painting, etc. Let me know in the comments!!

XOXO,

JP