A common question people ask authors is “Where do your ideas come from?” Because I write two different series, sometimes the idea for the next book is right there waiting to be written, but not always.
When it was time to come up with the 12th book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, I had no idea what I should write about. Because much of this series is about the police officers and their families, there were some ongoing problems and events in their lives to continue with—but I had no clue when it came to what kind of crime to introduce.
Out of the blue, one of my author friends sent me an email that said, “You should write about a crushing death.” Okay, interesting, but I had no idea what a crushing death was so I investigated via the Internet.
What I learned was long ago, many different cultures would pile stones on someone’s chest in an effort to make him or her tell the truth. Of course it seldom, if ever, worked, instead the person died. Ah, ha, a new way to kill someone off.
From there the questions to be answered were:
Who was the victim?
What was the motive?
Where did it happen?
Who was involved?
Right away, the ideas began to flow and I began to envision in my mind exactly how the plot should go. Oh, of course there were side threads that I began to weave into the story, but I had the main idea.
The title was obvious, A Crushing Death.
Anyone else have unusual ways an idea for a mystery came to you?
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F. M. Meredith who is more commonly known as Marilyn Meredith
A Crushing Death Blurb:
A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for violent attacks on women, and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has a problem.
F. M. Meredith who is also known as Marilyn Meredith is nearing the number of 40 published books. Besides being an author she is a wife, mother, grandma and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family she counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.
Learn more about Marilyn and her books at her website and blog. She can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
More from my site
When Inspiration Whacks … by Edith Maxwell
Writing from Experience … by Bill Lamperes
Using Personal Experience When Creating Plot and Character … by Betta Ferrendelli
The Message That Demands to be Heard … by Tracee Sioux
ON LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION … by David Freed
Talk Amongst Yourselves: Conversations with the Characters in My Head … by Yvonne Montgomery
And this is why writers rightfully worry about the authorities looking too closely at their search histories… 😀
Sounds like an intriguing book. Most of my stories come from the characters. When they’re darned good and ready, they begin to fill my head with their tales; it’s my job to take dictation and fill in gaps.
Most of my ideas come from dreams or nightmares. They play like movies in my head and I usually awake with lots of questions. Writing flash fiction is done via a sentence or picture prompt which is always fun.
Thanks for the comment Yolanda! I do at times have dreams that give me ideas.
Became the story and the title – nice!
I write science fiction and most of my ideas come from movies and music.
I’ve never had a movie or music trigger and idea so that’s something new to me, Alex.
I love that you are always coming up with novel ideas. i know they sometimes come from the headlines, but other times they are more obscure. Thanks for not using the cliches.
I don’t think I could write some of the things that people write. I try to have new ideas for each book, not always easy.
I’m pretty open to the world around me and find ideas “pop in” my brain at the strangest times. I try to be sure to write them down as I can be forgetful (especially if the idea comes right before I go to sleep . . . I seldom recall those most brilliant ideas in the morning!) I haven’t done any mystery writing but my latest idea is a mystery/cop themed idea. I wrote it down (thankfully) and am letting it stew and brew for a while (other projects to finish) but keep a log book of characters, actions, etc. when they appear so I’ll have them ready to go when I start the project.
Always a good idea to write everything down when ideas come to you. If I didn’t I’d be out of luck. It is especially important that I keep track of my new characters, their names, and what they look like so I don’t write something totally wrong.
Thank you so much for hosting me today, Patricia!
You are so welcome, Marilyn! I love having you here.
You never do know where your next writing idea will come from, do you? Thanks for sharing, both. It just goes to show, too, that research can take you into all sorts of interesting places.
Thanks for the comment, Margot. Sometimes I think the ideas will never come, at others they just bombard me.