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The most common question of any published author is, "Where do you get your ideas?" and it is also the question that is most difficult to answer. My favorite answer to this question was once given by Harlan Ellison as "Poughkeepsie" but that isn't of much use to us who don't have enough money to send away to Poughkeepsie for those ideas, which leads me to a second, more useful quote. "Chance favors the prepared mind."

This is the true answer to the question where do you get your ideas is that they come from those average things you do every day, except unlike most people your mind is prepared to see those ideas. Waiting in line at Wal-Mart I often find myself looking around at the people and imagining their lives. I am certain that in most cases my imagination is far wilder than their real lives but there is something about the people who are shopping for socks at 2:30 at night that makes my imagination work.

When you need an idea though everyday life isn't the fastest way to find it. if you're lucky you've been keeping a list of ideas that you can flip through until one strikes you but far more often it seems none of those ideas truly work. It is at this point that I like to go dredging for ideas. Sometimes you'll find something sometimes you won't.

One of the best ways to do this is to allow your mind time to wander. It seems in the modern world that even those of us who live by our imagination rarely allow ourselves the freedom to daydream, so rather than trying to push myself when I'm short on ideas I like to turn on some elevator music and daydream. It is surprising how often this will allow some idea, that was probably already there, to come to the surface of your mind.

Another excellent place to get inspiration is from other people's work. When you begin writing it is natural, and good, to have an aversion to taking other people's ideas, but moving on a little you realize that Picasso and Leonardo were both drawing people and yet no one accuses one of stealing from the other. There are an infinite number of ways to tell any story. Feel free to "steal" an element or two from a book you love, just try not to steal all of it and rename the characters.

There is no right answer for what inspires a writer. No right way to find passion, the important thing is to find something that you truly care because no matter what your passion is is if you allow that to inspire you people will be able to tell and that is the first step to great writing.

Learn more about this author, Elton Gahr.
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