Where Ideas Come From

I'm asked this question quite frequently: Where do you get your ideas?

The answer? Everywhere.

Sunday night, for example, I was watching The History Channel (which I do quite a bit--The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, etc.) and the show "Underground Cities" was on. (A fascinating show--if you've never watched it, you should!) This particular episode talked about New York City, and showed briefly a train car that was abandoned on underground tracks no longer in use. The train car didn't belong to the city and the number was marked with an "X" at the end, which apparently means it was government-owned.

The metal of the car was heavily plated, and even the small glass windows in the door were fortified. The car was from the 40s--they think it was for FDR. Now, before they even got to that part, my mind was churning. What if (that's how stories always start, right? "What if...?") this car was fortified not to keep people out, but to keep something in? And what would that something be? Well, I thought of vampires. Or maybe...just one vampire. An incredibly strong, incredibly dangerous vampire.

And then, what if...he'd been left there on those abandoned tracks? What if he'd been forgotten just like the tracks had been?

And what if some unsuspecting person (maybe a homeless person looking for a new place to stay) found him and set him free?

Then what would happen?

See how it works? Just a lot of questions leading to even more questions until the idea is solid and workable.


"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." ~Lucille Ball