My Inspiration

That probably made me laugh more than it should... 

Anyway. 

In a desperate search for inspiration, a lot of writers don’t quite know where to turn. There’s a lot of material out there, after all, and it’s hard to find the specific thing to inspire one specific person.

Just for funsies (anybody watch Scrubs?), this time I’m giving you a list of all the things that have inspired the novels I’ve already written, or am in the process of writing (I’ll even give you the tentative titles of all the unpublished works).

• Telekinetic: Book I of the Advanced Saga

Inspired by a dream. The entire series was, actually. I had this crazy dream where everyone had super powers and the world was coming to an end. When I got up in the morning, I just knew I had to write it down. Besides, my best friend wouldn’t let me stop after she read the first chapter.

We both needed to know how it ended.

• Telepathic: Book II of the Advanced Saga

Inspired by a moment in book I. Yeah, I know, that’s cheating. But it was also inspired by an image I had in my head, about a mother and a child… No spoilers here, friends!

• Teleporter: Book III of the Advanced Saga

Inspired by Nicholas from book I. I talk to my characters, sometimes. He told me he needed something, so I gave it to him in book III. 

Also, I highly recommend talking to your characters. If anyone’s around, they’ll think you’re a little wonko, but the story gets better if you know your characters well enough to converse with them.

• Totalitarian: Book IV of the Advanced Saga

Inspired by humanity. I wanted to find some redemption for Humans, I wanted to see if there was any real goodness left in the world, so I searched it out for book IV.

• Coetir: The People of the Woods (A Druid Novel)

Inspired by Viking mythology. I was in class, listening to my teacher lecturing on and on about Volsunga Saga, and then about Druids. As soon as he started talking about druids, I started writing.

Yes, in the middle of class.

• Cedwig: The People of the Vines (A Druid Novel)

Inspired by an image of a man who looked a little bit like a tiger. You’ll have to read the book to understand that one.

• The Spirit in the Water/The Cauldron/Anuk/Pirates/IDon’tKnowWhatToCallThisBookYet

Inspired by Mermaids: The Body Found. Have you guys seen that? The music was amazing. Anyway, it inspired me to write about pirates, which was something I’d never seen myself doing. I’m hooked on this book though!

• Virus

Inspired by System Error by Andy Hunter. I was listening to it when I should’ve been doing homework (in high school), and found myself writing a novel instead. If you listen to it, I have a sinking feeling you’ll know a little bit of what the book’s about.

• Daemon

Inspired by a sermon, by Paranormal Activity 3, and by my Lord and Savior. I was sitting in church one day, late last November, listening to a sermon on the hierarchy of evil. As I was taking notes, I realized that I needed to write a novel about some of this stuff.

The next thing I knew, sometime in January, I’d finished the first timeline of the book (in other words, I finished half. I have to do more research before I can write the second timeline). 

Bonus! My favorite short story, soon to be published by Embers Igniting...

• letters From Hell

Inspired by Syfy’s Sanctuary. John Druitt caught my eye, and I just rolled with it. Lots of research went into this story, to the point that Ripper details have been thrown in and hidden inside where people may be unlikely to spot them.

No one’s ever understood the title, or why I refuse to capitalize “letters”…

Okay, that was fun for me to write, and I hope it was fun for you to read as well! If you’re interested in reading teasers from any of these stories, please let me know. I’d be more than happy to post a chapter or two.

{RD}