Gaddy photo 2014Ideas and Inspiration
by Eve Gaddy
“Where do you get your ideas?” That’s a question writers hear a lot. There are as many different answers as there are books. For me, the short answer is everywhere. Every book is different.
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A song can be inspiring in a number of ways. The lyrics might inspire me, or the tune, or the title, or all three. I remember driving somewhere and a song came on the radio and suddenly a plot point became obvious to me. Of course, I don’t remember the song or the plot point now, but I think the book was Cry Love. Driving is great for getting ideas, except you can’t write them down.

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A quote, any kind of quote, might inspire me to have an idea for a new book, or a book I’m currently working on. Articles in the newspaper or from the Internet can also be sources of inspiration.

When I heard the song Cry Love, by John HiattĀ http://bit.ly/1m0enN1, I knew that was the title of my book. Cry Love is the first song on my playlist. I posted the playlist for Cry Love in an earlier blog.

Pictures are wonderful at firing the imagination. I often make a board on Pinterest for my books. I make them public after the book is published. I pin pictures of people who resemble my hero and heroine, of settings, buildings, and houses. Often, I’ll pin outfits the heroine might wear.

Sometimes I pin inspiring or pertinent quotes.

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For some reason, I have a lot of pictures of men who might resemble my hero.

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I found the movie Hurricane very inspiring. I also found Denzel Washington (in his prime!) inspiring.

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In fact, I found several African-American actors inspiring.

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Here are some more images I found for Cry Love. I’ll leave it to you to discover why each picture might be important in the book.

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I’m sure other authors have other things that inspire them. These are just a few of mine. Finding inspiration is one of my favorite things to do for a book.