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©Nailing an Idea for a Book©

This article appeared in the August 2006 Edition of HEARTS TALK, the monthly magazine of the

Romance Writers of Australia

'I've got my next ten books all mapped out.'

'I've got so many stories in my head I can't get them out fast enough.'

'A new story is crowding out the one I'm working on, it's so frustrating cos it's getting in the way of my current WIP, you know what I mean?'

NO! I don't. I have no idea what that's like at all.

And suddenly I feel so exposed. Just between you and me, I've got a confession to make. I find it really hard to come up with ideas for my books. I know I've just sold four books in an eight-month period but two of those books were written before I sold the first one. Selling a book is tremendously exciting but after the euphoria wore off reality intruded. 'Oh, they expect me to keep doing this.' Blind panic set in. It had often taken me two to three months to come up with an idea. Obviously I had to speed up the process.

The first step was to crawl out from under the mind-numbing panic of 'I've got no ideas.' Not an easy task especially as the same thoughts come back to haunt me at the end of every book. But, kicking the fear sideways with the chant 'I've written a book before I can write another one' helps. So does some sage counseling from more experienced authors!

This article appeared in the August 2006 Edition of HEARTS TALK, the monthly magazine of the

Romance Writers of Australia

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So, I set about to try and achieve a new mindset. I started viewing the world quite differently. As I write medicals I am always on the lookout for new and interesting medical scenarios and wild and wonderful maladies. The Age, the Australian and even my local paper are a great resource. I read the Sunday magazines' 'people' stories, I flick through the magazines at the check out and I pick up all sorts of ideas that prod my imagination into action.

Back in 1995 I was living in the US, and as a nervous Aussie I went along to my very first RWAmerica chapter meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. I rocked up to a summer 'potluck' dinner meeting…I took a Pavlova, as you do. Anyway, after we had consumed way too much food we were divided into groups, given a pile of magazines and newspapers and we had to cut out interesting articles and come up with a story line. It was amazing what we all came up with! I have gone back to doing just that and I recommend you give it a try. I also read the Age Good Weekend's The Two of Us, which talks about friendships and relationships.

I interview everyone I meet…happy couples LOVE to tell you their story. I ask the questions, 'How did you meet?' 'What drew you together?' 'Oh so you met and worked together for two yeas and she wouldn't have a bar of you. Then you met socially at a wedding and were engaged by the end of the night…what changed???'

So I've gathered ideas but what about a conflict that will keep the Hero and Heroine apart for the whole book? Where do those ideas come from?

I turn to the Universal emotions…love, trust, grief, greed, self worth, abandonment, commitment, hate, jealousy, betrayal, despair, anger, euphoria, infatuation, depression….the list goes on. And then I used to think 'but I wrote a book about loss already.' Then a wise writer told me, 'it's all how the protagonist interprets the emotions.' For example, let's look at the issue of abandonment. One person will wall himself or herself off from everyone and another person will attach himself or herself to every person who passes by. Bingo, two totally different stories.

A light bulb went on! Yes I know, I can be slow J

The final part of my dilemma fits into the category of time management. Allowing myself permission to think. That sounds dumb but there are few places in my current every day life where I can just let my imagination have free rein. I know I have to create those times not just for my creative life but also for my life in general. I've discovered swimming is a great activity…I let my mind wander as I plough up and down the lane…I mean, what else IS there to do when you swim?

My best ideas come to me on long car trips or on holidays when I let my brain turn off. This eases the everyday junk that dominates my life and I think my imagination comes out from under those stifling constraints. I write those thoughts down in an exercise book. Which reminds me, I better got dig it out from the pile on the mound that is my desk. I bet it might have a gem of an idea for my next story :-)

Fiona Lowe

Outback Romance

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