How do you find ideas for stories?


People often ask me,'where do your story ideas come from?'

The answer is 'just about anywhere'!

For me, a whole novel once grew out of a small personal ad in a community newspaper.

The lovely cover design for this enovel is by Erin Steenson

Originally titled China or Elsewhere then Peru or Elsewhere and now rebadged as a Kindle e-book, Love, Classified, this 200-page story evolved from this ad: Travel Companion: China or Elsewhere, lady 35-50 n/s, gsoh, with guy in next few weeks. Take it from there or move on. VMB 1111. Reply Box No 55.' (For those of you who aren't into personal ad lingo, n/s means non-smoking, gsoh is good sense of humour and VMB is voice mail box.)

My daughter Lucy was reading the personal ads column in the paper after coming home from the beach with her friends (a few years ago now). She was putting on a silly voice and making us all laugh. But when she came across this one, she said: "Mum, you should write a novel about this!"

"But I don't know anything about China," I said.

('Write what you know' is something I believe in!)

"They don't have to actually GO to China, they could just head in that direction," she said.

So I thought about it: what if a 30-something plus-size virgin read the ad and was intrigued? What if she found herself daydreaming of visiting exotic lands with a handsome stranger?

('What if...?' will be the subject of another blog!)

The story almost wrote itself. It was such fun for me to escape into it and many readers have enjoyed it too.

So look out for quirky little lines of text that make you smile - and let rip!