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Hello, we are a tween book club and we have read a few of your books. You have very good imagery and very creative. Where do you get your ideas?
Reply by Bruce Coville
Ahoy, Book Club -
People always ask about ideas, and one thing I say is that you have to train yourself to have what I call "Story Brain" There are seeds of stories all around us, but you have to be alert to them.
The other important thing is to save ideas when they come to you. The human brain is an idea-generating machine. But it doesn't send ideas when you want them, it sends them when it feels like it. If you get an idea and say, "That's cool, I'll write it someday" but don't actually write the idea down, by the time someday comes, it will be gone! I have a thick file called IDEAS and when I get an idea I write it down and stuff it in there. (I also have a similar file on my computer.) I also tear out articles from newspapers and magazines that contain the seeds of ideas.
All best,
BC
People always ask about ideas, and one thing I say is that you have to train yourself to have what I call "Story Brain" There are seeds of stories all around us, but you have to be alert to them.
The other important thing is to save ideas when they come to you. The human brain is an idea-generating machine. But it doesn't send ideas when you want them, it sends them when it feels like it. If you get an idea and say, "That's cool, I'll write it someday" but don't actually write the idea down, by the time someday comes, it will be gone! I have a thick file called IDEAS and when I get an idea I write it down and stuff it in there. (I also have a similar file on my computer.) I also tear out articles from newspapers and magazines that contain the seeds of ideas.
All best,
BC