Story Ideas

One of the questions that writers are often asked by friends, families, and fans is…

“How to do you come up with your story ideas?”

For me, those ideas can pop in my thoughts from an overheard conversation (usually called eavesdropping), a song, a newsworthy event, a personal life experiences, someone else’s personal life experience, etc.  I might hear a snippet and then start with “What if?” Or “Why?”
The current story that I am writing started with a conversation that I had with a woman I met on a cruise ship.

I was celebrating my birthday by cruising the Inside Passage of Alaska.  While reclining on a chaise with a good book a woman came and sat next to me.   People who know me will tell you that if you are near me for 5 minutes, I will start a conversation.   So, this woman and I started a pleasant conversation about our cruise experience which led her to tell me that her husband was supposed to be on the cruise with her, but he had backed out.   And, get this, it was not the first time!   She had booked the cruise twice before, and he backed out each time, but this time she decided to come alone.   This woman told me she had made an appointment with a divorce attorney before she left for the cruise and she was trying to find one reason to stay married.   She told me this was day 4 of the 7-day cruise and she had not found one reason to stay married.   Of course, I had tons of questions, but I bit down on my tongue when I saw the tears in her eyes.

I thought about her and her situation over the years.   I wondered if she kept the appointment with the divorce attorney.   I wondered why he backed out on her 3 times.   I wondered what had happened between them to cause this rift in their relationship.   So, as a creative, as a writer, I made up my own story about what happened and what she did when she returned home.

I have written the complete first draft, and I am almost done with “enhancing” it.  For me, writing is like baking a cake.   The plot is the unfinished layers, and then I add dialogue, setting, body language like putting the icing on the cake.