Where do you get your ideas from?
It’s surely the most oft asked question fielded by authors, and of particular importance in the speculative genre
which is, by its very nature, an art form of ideas. Avid fans, dazzled by the concepts laid bare in the latest
fantasy series or SF blockbuster turn the last page, draw a breath, and think to themselves, ‘How on earth did they
come up with that?’ So, quite naturally, when they manage to corner their favourite author at a bookshop signing or
convention, they just have to know.
The trouble is, unless you’re very, very lucky and the author has a spare half hour to kick around the whys and
wherefores with you, the answer you receive is probably not going to be all that illuminating. One reason is there
are a hundred other people standing in line behind you all clutching a copy of the author’s latest offering and
wishing you’d just hurry up and get out of the way so they can have their turn. The other reason is, as questions
go, it’s not very specific and so it invites a response couched in generalities.
So for this issue of Aurealis, we’ve taken a slightly different tack and made the question very specific. We asked
a group of our most prominent speculative fiction authors two questions: what story are you working on at the
moment? and where exactly did the central idea for the story come from? The answers we received were very revealing
and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their prompt and candid responses.
In this issue, Jack Dann, one of our most talented imports to date, takes you on a brief tour of some of the
creative seeds that led to the strange blooms contained within his oeuvre; Van Ikin interviews Cameron Rogers about
the Aurealis Award-shortlisted author’s own creative processes, and — for this issue only — our featured authors
tag the end of their stories with what led them to write their pieces in the first place.
The upshot of all this is that, hopefully, we’ll grant the most fervent wish of speculative fiction fans
everywhere: providing that much sought after insight on the author’s creative processes.
I guess, as a writer and editor, I had a secondary motive for asking the questions I did. I’ve often wondered
whether writing speculative fiction was a skill that could be learnt, or whether good speculative fiction writers
were ‘born’ rather than ‘created’. Believe me, for anyone who’s stared at a PC screen for hours on end willing the
ideas to flow, the answer to that one is just as important.
So, let’s get right into it. Just where do ideas come from? It seems that, for some writers at least, the act of
creation is almost unconscious, although one that takes a lot of hard work to bash into final shape. This from Ian
Irvine, now working on Chimaera, the culmination of his four-book Well of Echoes series:
After finishing The View From The Mirror Quartet (which I spent 12 years on), I wanted to get right away from the
world of Karan, Llian & Co, and I also wanted to write a slightly harder-edged fantasy. So I decided to set the new
series two hundred years into the future, in a Santhenar greatly changed as a consequence of what happened at the
end of The Way Between The Worlds. I did a few pages of planning of a dark world where the entire society is
regimented for just one thing: survival in the endless war against the winged lyrinx, then began writing the story.
The world is run by the machiavellian scrutators and everyone (even children) have their place and their work. Men
who can’t contribute in any other way go to the front lines to be killed in the war, women to the breeding
factories to replace the dead, for the population is falling. Unfortunately, the war is becoming a kind of magical
arms race, with every new device produced by humanity’s manufactories being topped by the flesh-forming creations
of the enemy. Something’s got to give, and that something will occur in Chimaera.
And basically, that’s as much as I knew before I began The Well of Echoes. The ideas came as I was writing the
story. I dare say it’s not helpful to say so (especially since SFX have just described me as ‘arguably the most
inventive fantasy author to emerge in the last few years’) but essentially I make it up as I go along, then whip it
into shape in many, many redrafts.
My problem isn’t in getting new story ideas. Ideas are everywhere. I get a new story idea every time I read the
paper, and dozens from Scientific American or any of the other magazines and non-fiction books I read regularly. My
problem is that I have too many ideas and want to put them all in, which makes the story more complex than it needs
to be unless they’re ruthlessly pruned out again.
***
If you harbour aspirations to be the next Asimov or Tolkien, Ian’s inventiveness could be amazingly off-putting,
particularly if every idea takes a gallon of your blood, sweat and tears to bring into the world. But let’s take a
moment to analyse. The last paragraph of Ian’s response is very revealing. Somewhere along the track, possibly as a
result of his scientific training, Ian’s acquired a mindset which, by now instinctively, analyses almost everything
he sees, reads, and experiences and extrapolates it into a story idea or a plot point. While for Ian this may
appear to happen almost unconsciously, I firmly believe you can train yourself with conscious effort to use your
daily experience as fodder for your writing. It’s this mindset that is important in unlocking your creative
potential.
Some writers approach this creative mindset by consciously challenging themselves, setting themselves a problem to
solve through their writing. Chuck McKenzie, co-editor or Australien Absurdities, writes:
Currently I’m working on a piece which (hopefully) puts a very nasty supernatural spin on the story of the
Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The central idea — as with many of my stories — was generated simply by my wanting to
see if I could write a story which used a familiar SF theme — in this case, the old Go-Back-In-Time-To-Witness-The-
Crucifixion theme—with a unique slant to it.
***
For others, the creative spark is ‘hijacked’ and used to serve the conscious concerns of the individual, their
interests, likes, and (even) deeply held beliefs. Sophie Masson is currently working on two fantasy novels for the
YA/adult market:
One is called Snow, Fire, Sword, and is a fantasy set in modern times, in a place rather like Java; the other is
called Malvolio’s Revenge and is set in New Orleans about 1911.
The central idea for Snow, Fire, Sword, is my great concern about what is happening to traditional culture and
beliefs in Java, which is under onslaught both from materialism/urbanisation, and Islamic fundamentalism. I have
changed names, etc. to make it more of a parallel world, but in essence that’s what’s at the basis. As I was born
in Java (but of French parents) I feel quite strongly about it, but also do not want to write polemics. This is
going to be a very unusual fantasy, mixing modern realities with Javanese mythology and magic!
Malvolio’s Revenge was inspired by two things — my great love of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night and interest in
the strange character of Malvolio, and how in the Victorian era, he was seen as the play’s central character (they
sometimes changed the name of the play to Malvolio). Also, I was inspired by a visit in 2001 to New Orleans and
Louisiana, and I love jazz: when I found out that the festivities which end in the famous Mardi Gras in New Orleans
begin with Twelfth Night, January 6, then the connection was made! Yet another inspiration comes from one of my
favourite novels, the 19th century French swashbuckling romance/adventure Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gautier.
This novel will be a lot of fun, full of sly jokes, swashbuckling adventure, mystery and pratfalls! It’s my third
Shakespearean fantasy—the other two being the Aurealis Awards-listed Cold Iron (1998) and The Tempestuous Voyage of
Hopewell Shakespeare (to be published in 2003 in the UK.
***
Fantasy author Juliet Marillier is another example of this type of approach:
I’m writing a story about leadership: what are the qualities of character that make a true leader, and what is the
personal cost of undertaking such a role? I think the idea for the book started with a look at the Arthurian legend
and why it has been so enduring. The idea has a lot to do with current or recent events, too — for instance, Xanana
Gusmao’s changing role in East Timor over the last 25 years or so, and the differences in style, character and
credibility of various US presidents… The idea also developed through my own previous writing, as I’ve included
styles of leadership as a theme in my last two books.
***
Sean Williams casts a slightly different light on the question again. Sean is the most prolific author working in
Australia today. Despite the fact that he is so busy, he still finds time to do a lot of reading and thinking (and —
occasionally — sleeping), and this practice serves his creative muscle well, as the following demonstrates:
This week I’m working (in one way or another) on six novels in three different universes. I’ll try to keep it
brief. Book #1 is The Crooked Letter, a prequel to my fantasy trilogy, the Books of the Change. Books #2–4 are the
sequel trilogy, the Books of the Cataclysm. Book #5 is Widow of Opportunity, a standalone SF novel. Book #6 is
Force Heretic 2: Refugee, the second book in my trilogy in the Star Wars: New Jedi Order series.
As you’ll see, there are no easy answers to the question of where the central ideas for the stories come from. It’s
not easy even pinpointing what the central idea is, exactly…
Ideas for Book #1 came from readings in biology and ecology, and the question of where the soul (if it existed)
might fit into an ecosystem (i.e. what would prey on it). They also developed out of wondering about the psychic
connection that some identical twins seem to have, whether they know each other or not. They also emerged from my
‘spare time’ readings on theology and the like.
Ideas for Books #2–4 arose out of the Books of the Change, which in turn came from a dream that juxtaposed fantasy-
styled magic with a seaside town in SA that I more or less grew up in. Many of the locations were inspired by other
real-life places in the outback. Many of the creatures in both series and the prequel stem from my wonderings on
artificial intelligence and immortality.
The beginning of Book #5 (which started life as a novella, ‘The Perfect Gun’) was inspired by my trip to LA in
1993. The idea of a PI in a futuristic city was in turn inspired by film noir movies dating back to Bladerunner
(and further back still), but this novel takes a lot of material from the history of the entire 20th century as
well. The backstory dips deeply into my interest in post-humanity.
Book #6 was inspired by the love of Star Wars, that encouraged me to write in this genre — and the money, of
course. ;) To me, there is no one single source of ideas. Sometimes they come out of nowhere. Sometimes they can be
teased out of research. Sometimes they can be plain forced out. It all comes down to practice, which I guess might
explain why I have so many of them at the moment. Touch wood!
***
Certainly the practice of creation seems to beget creation. Stray thoughts, dreams, idle musings become the fuel
for the creative engine once it is ‘well-oiled’. Trudi Canavan, fresh from concluding her successful Black Magician
trilogy, is now deep into planning her next fantasy cycle which had its beginnings in idle ‘wool-gathering’:
The idea for this story has been sitting in the back of my mind for 17 or 18 years. I was always intrigued by the
Greek and Roman gods, who behaved like humans, succumbing to love, desire, hate and jealousy. I’d wonder what the
world would be like if gods like these were real. Not very pleasant, I decided. Particularly if you didn’t want to
obey or worship them. So I invented a world with its own pantheon of gods, and a character who at first serves the
gods, then begins to question everything: how they govern humanity, whether beings that act on emotions like
jealousy and hate should impose their will on others, and if it was right for the gods to play games with people
for their own entertainment.
***
Of course the thoughts and connections that generate a creative idea can be tangential rather than linear and
logical, provoking an unexpected firing or synapses that (possibly) have more to do with the architecture of the
individual mind than with any kind of learned habit. Perhaps in this kind of creative experience it is more a case
of the writer being born rather than being taught. Kate Forsyth is now working on a new series of Eileanan books,
set some 16 years after The Fathomless Caves:
The initial idea for the book I have just finished writing, Full Fathom Five, came to me while half-drowsing on a
beach years and years ago. I saw in my mind’s eye a young man and woman standing on a hillside in a strong red
light, looking down on a house. I got a strong impression of grief and horror, and the words, ‘O my father!’ I
thought perhaps the house was burning. Where did this image come from? I don’t know. I didn’t summon it. I don’t
remember what I was thinking about before it came. This is part of the mystery of creation.
The book I am now working on is still in that fluid, inchoate stage where I don’t really know what I’m writing
about. It began with a number of quickly scribbled notes I found in my notebooks. They were not together but
scattered through a number of different notebooks. The first read ‘black winged horse?’ Another read ‘Acantha—
thorny’. I often write down names that catch my interest somehow. Names are very important to me, and often a
character will not come alive for me until I’ve found the right name for them. While looking for names for previous
characters, this one snagged my imagination and so I wrote it down. It still snags my imagination. In yet another
notebook I found a list of untied narrative threads—things which happened in the books that are not explained or
tied up—or which could have some greater meaning that I have not yet discovered. Most of these were tied up by the
end. A few were not. In the first book, for example, my winged prince disguised as a hunchback says he had been
followed by a raven for many miles after he went to the Tower of Ravens in Ravenshaw. In my list, there is simply
the one word, ‘raven’, and a question mark.
For some reason, these three scribbled notes together struck a chord. I began to daydream about the fabled black
winged horse of Ravenshaw, mentioned once or twice in the Witches of Eileanan series, and about a girl who might
tame it. Because I already had her name, her personality quickly came alive for me. From character comes plot, as
surely as night follows day. I began to get a feeling for the sort of story I wanted to write and then I put that
together with other ideas I had jotted down in my ideas book. Two of these are going to be important, though I’m
not yet fully sure how or why . One had to do with the magical roads of the Celestines, which intersect with time
as well as space. The other has to do with the ramifications of the decision to betroth the young cousins Donncan
and Bronwyn at the end of the Witches series. By the time they are old enough to marry, how would they feel about
each other and their fate?
So here I have a number of elements which apart are no more than rough notes, but when put together become the
supporting struts of a story. Now all I have to do is start laying the bricks and mortar…
***
There are some musings, however, into which it’s best not to delve too deeply. Bill Congreve’s latest project is
one such example:
I’m working on the novel of [short story] ‘The Mullet That Screwed John West’, which will be called The Mullet That
Screwed Satan. If you really want ideas about how I thought up the concept of a vampire mullet penis, I’ll try to
remember. (grin) Thankfully, I forget that part of it.
***
Self-generated musings, mental challenges, personal interests and beliefs, wide-ranging reading and consideration,
errant thoughts, dreams—it would seem that any thought or experience, no matter how commonplace, can be the jumping-
off point for a new and exciting tale. Creation is everywhere around us if we can only see it. Once recognised for
what they are, how we choose to use these everyday gifts—or how they use us—is what makes for a bestselling novel.
For reasons of brevity, what you’ve read here is only a representative sampling of the responses that were kindly
made. The contents of this editorial and an expanded selection of contributions from Australian speculative fiction
authors can be found on our Forum page, which you can access via www.sf.org.au/aurealis. I invite you to visit the
page and leave your own comments. But in the meantime, read on. There are many more examples of the creative spark
to follow.
Here’s to the future.
Keith
Copyright by Keith Stevenson © 2003