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Saturday, May 21, 2016

Savvy Saturday: Inspiration with Amy McKinley

Book ideas.

Ideas are the easy part. An idea can spark from anything really, and often does at the most inopportune moment: driving, in the shower, falling asleep.

Brilliant ideas behind the wheel are not easily recorded, unless you have the perfect method. I do not. So they have to be remembered or by hastily scribbling a note at a red light. Fortunately, there are waterproof boards or notepads for the shower. In my experience, being in any body of water is relaxing and seems to free up thoughts that are waiting to be heard. That seems to be the same with falling asleep.

This does not normally happen to me, but the storyline and all the plot points for a book I’m working on basically screamed at me one night when I was about to fall asleep. I knew if I didn’t drag myself from my bed, go downstairs and get them in my computer, they’d be lost come morning. Now, I sleep with a small notepad, book light, and pen next to my bed.

Ideas come from anywhere really: a headline from an article, a few words from a conversation, a picture, a person laughing, a memory, or a picture of a doorway that leads to parts unknown. They’re everywhere.

The idea for Hidden, the first book in the Five Fates series, formed while listening to a radio announcer talk about a celebrity having bad dreams. What started as one thought turned into the inspiration for the series. This June, Taken, the second book in the Five Fates releases!

A few new ideas for the third book in the series, fueling the theme and subplot, came about while doing some mythology research. I can lose hours there and on Pinterest. It’s about finding what’s inspiring and letting your imagination play.

Amy McKinley is a freelance writer and author of the Five Fates Series. She lives in Illinois with her husband, their four talented teenagers, and three mischievous cats. You can find her at www.amymckinley.com, or on Amazon, Kobo, Goodreads, and at the Champagne Bookstore.

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