I’ve always been fortunate to have far more ideas for my fiction than I have time to write them into a story or novel. But some writers struggle to find an idea and inspiration. So how do you get inspiration and ideas for what to write? This was my experience.

My first novel was easy to plot and plan. I wanted to set the novel in the Regency era because of my love of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Then, women had no rights and little education and I wanted to promote my ideas about feminism and equality in that era. A Suitable Bride emerged from these basic ideas. I asked what would an intelligent and sensible woman do to ensure she made the best choices to achieve a fulfilled and happy life in a world where woman had no legal rights and little education? The answer informed the storyline of A Suitable Bride. The love that grew between my protagonists against impossible odds gave me the conflict required and the happy ending fulfilled the romance genre.

Family and friends who experienced the sad loss of a baby or suffered infertility inspired my second book A Suitable Heir. Again, I set the novel in the Regency period to capture the additional difficulties of upper-class woman whose main purpose in life was to marry and produce an heir. I asked how would a woman in a society cope with infertility in this era. In addition, I incorporated the issues of depression and loss when a couple remains childless and the joy of having children after a difficult time conceiving.

I’m currently writing my third book, which began when I watched the sad and senseless death of George Floyd. It appalled me to witness his awful murder and made me think what could I do to counter such extreme racism. I returned to my favourite historical period and I learned about the British slavery trade and its aftermath. This became the focus of A Suitable Passion. My protagonists appear to be on the opposite side of the abolition of slavery movement, yet my heroine is coerced into a marriage of convenience with a man she cannot respect. This book has been the most difficult to plot and plan as it required considerable historical research about slavery in the British colonies, a romance and a happy ending. Two rewrites later I am still attempting to incorporate an engaging story with a fascinating but sad history. I’m not sure I will achieve the right balance but love the challenge.

So, my inspiration for novels comes from social issues and themes, which I then incorporate into a favourite historical time to create fictional characters and storylines.  I find inspiration for short stories harder but thinking back these are some spurs that have helped me to create my short stories.

• Writer’s group exercises. Some of my best short stories started out as a topic for a 10-minute writing exercise at the Woodcroft Writer’s group. Everyone wrote a sentence from a book, poem, article or from our imagination on a scrap of paper and then fold them up and put them in a tin. Each week we’d pull out a sentence and it would inspire us to write on the given topic.
• If you can’t attend a group, just grab a book, pick a paragraph or sentence and use that as inspiration.
• Some flash fiction web-sites provide topics for short fiction.
• Reading is also a significant source of inspiration. You may enjoy a particular genre or author. Ask yourself could I also write like Stephen King, Agatha Christie or Jane Austen and start planning.
• You can read articles in newspapers and magazines about actual crimes, daring rescues, sad losses, politics, sport, celebrities and unusual events and use these as inspiration. Change the time, place and names and start writing.
• Just overhearing a conversation can inspire a story. So, learn to listen to people talking around you. It will give you ideas and help you create authentic dialogue.
• Competitions are a great way to get inspiration. The Romance Writers of Australia have three anthologies published a year each with a particular keyword and theme that inspires the entrants. There are a lot of writing competitions that provide entrants with a theme or keyword.
• Photos, films, social media posts can all provide you with ideas.
• Research an area of history that fascinates you. As you learn more about the time, you can discover real life people and events that will provide a fabulous story. You can take an event in one era and put it into another. Change the characters’ names, the country they live in and then write it up as fiction.
• Your own family or personal experiences can inspire as many a memoir writer will tell you.
• Keep a notebook of ideas, or have a desktop folder with writing ideas so when inspiration strikes you can put the idea away for later consideration.

An important step in the creative process is to ask what if or how would? What if that hero in the paper later regretted his actions? What if that murderer wasn’t caught? What if that woman I overheard left her husband? How would a barren wife cope with a demanding husband in the 1800s. How would an abolitionist cope when her family are slave owners.

So, select a topic, make whatever changes you like and ask what if, how would and get writing.

Cheers Elsie

Elsie King©2023

Photo from Apple stock images.