Escape Into Fiction

The (sometimes) Complicated Mind of a Writer [approx a 4-minute read]

A question I’m often asked is where did I get the idea for “X” book.

Image by Tung Lam from Pixabay

There are many ways authors get their ideas for a story.

• Sometimes a writer fantasizes characters, and then they fit a story around them.

• They play the “what if?” game. (What if that woman reading a romance novel in the lobby is really an assassin? What if that bus full of tourists gets hijacked? What if all the children all over the world refused to go back to class after recess?)

• Personal history including childhood, adulthood, profession, emotional or traumatic events.

• Dreams. Everyone has a weird dream every now and then that could be worked into a story.

• Current headlines such as true crime, political intrigue, scientific discoveries, etc.

• People watching: imagine their backstories and current lives.

• Reading a book that was okay, and knowing how to make it better.

• etc. etc. etc.

The idea for RED TIDE was sparked by a small news article (really just a filler) I read about a photograph that was found in the cell of a prisoner who had died. The photograph wasn’t of a person or an event or anything that could readily be identified. It was just a place. Why would a man in prison keep a picture of something that couldn’t have any meaning to him? Unless it did…

THE MISSINGS actually began as a women’s fiction with two characters named Robert and Iforget Johnson who had a son who died of a relatively rare, genetic heart condition. I never finished that manuscript and Robert and Iforget Johnson morphed into Chase and Bond Waters who also had a son who died of the same condition. While Robert was an accountant, Chase is a detective with the Aspen Falls PD. The story changed as much as the characters did, and it started my foray into current social conditions acting as launchpads for story premises. THE MISSINGS deals with organ donation.

The idea for THE SACRIFICE came from something mentioned in THE MISSINGS that scared me. While writing Chase’s book, I googled Santeria and found a website that looked… normal. Like a business. Nothing at all like a cult. It shook me to think about kids getting their information from sites like that one. I could either remain frightened of the religion, or meet it head on and research the hell out of it. In THE SACRIFICE my main character (who is an uber-minor character in THE MISSINGS) deals with depression, a social condition which still fights to be addressed well by society.

When noodling over the premise for my next book, I made a list of six or seven current societal issues that bothered (a/k/a scared) me, and kept going back to the same one. On a summer afternoon, drinking wine on a neighbor’s deck, I said I was considering using trafficking as the underlying premise for my next book. It was during that conversation I promised to make it about “here and not over there.” I thought the research would be thin, but when I got home and began I was overwhelmed with the massive amount of information. The things I read just about did me in, and TRAFFICKED was born.

And now? Hate groups. The scariest one yet.

Quinn’s Corner

I want to talk to you about something serious. In books there are a lot of characters—mostly humans, but some canines as well (although in much smaller numbers). That’s all well and good, but here’s the deal: the humans have food. Sometimes the writer goes into great detail about that food, exquisitly describing the ingredients and aromas; the elegant setting and accompanying beverages. But what about the canines? Have you noticed that sometimes they never get fed? For the entire book! How are we supposed to feel? And you call us ‘man’s best friend.’ So I’m asking, on behalf of all of your best friends, let those writers know that we would like to see our counterparts enjoy a good meal or two. It’s only fair.

What I’m Reading

I’ve wanted to read Douglas Corleone’s books for a while, but somehow another book always found its way into my hands before I could open up one of his. That has changed, and so far I’m glad.

Corleone writes international thrillers, and I’m a little jealous of the research he gets to do. Maybe my next one will take me to all kinds of exciting places…

I’ve just begun to read Good as Gone, so here’s what his publisher says:

Former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk now works as a private contractor, tracking down and recovering children who were kidnapped by their own estranged parents. He only has one rule: he won’t touch stranger abduction cases. He’s still haunted by the disappearance of his own daughter years ago when she was just a child, still unsolved, and stranger kidnappings hit too close to home.

Until, that is, six-year-old Lindsay Sorkin disappears from her parents’ hotel room in Paris, and the French police deliver Simon an ultimatum: he can spend years in a French jail for his actions during a past case, or he can work with them now to find Lindsay Sorkin. So, Simon sets out in pursuit of the missing child and the truth behind her disappearance. But Lindsay’s captors did not leave an easy trail, and following it will take Simon across the continent, through the ritziest nightclubs and the seediest back alleys, into a terrifying world of international intrigue and dark corners of his past he’d rather never face again.

With lightning-fast pacing and a twist behind every turn, Douglas Corleone’s Good as Gone is a gripping race against the clock for a young girl with her life on the line and a man who has nothing left to lose.

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been going back in time, listening to Alex Cross stories I read long ago. This is #14 in a series that currently numbers 35 books.

In Cross Country my vicarious international travel now finds me in Africa as Alex goes after a particularly vicious killer. The savagery of the Washington DC murders are not only professionally compelling for Cross, but personal as well.

What I’m Streaming

The reason for my Alex Cross walk down memory lane is the new season of Cross on Amazon Prime where a ruthless vigilante targets America’s corrupt billionaires. LoML and I are watching a couple episodes at a time. It’s nice to have something we both enjoy.

And Now…

I’m always looking for a good series to stream, preferably on Netflix. Leave a comment with your recommendation, or email me at pegbrantley@substack.com. I’ll chose one I haven’t watched. The winner will have a few fun things to chose from.

A Little Humor

(Sent by a friend.)

Thank you for letting me take up a little space in your day. I hope you found something interesting.

It’s all better with friends.