Where Did That Come From? -- Voice

I am not what I would consider old. At the same time, it's been nearly 15 years since I was in high school. It's hard to feel like I have an authentic grasp of what teens today are thinking and feeling. This is a problem when I want to write YA books.

Fortunately for me, I grew up in one of those typical Mormon families. You know. The Osmonds. A dozen kids spanning twenty years? Except in my case, it was 8 kids. I am 3 months shy of being 19 years older than my littlest brother. (I'm the oldest.)When he was really small, people asked me if I was his mom. And I could have been.My brother just turned 13 a few months ago. (And yes, if you want to do the math, I'm 32.)

I also have a sister who is in high school. She's a junior. Just got her driver's license. Fairly outgoing, but not the top of the social ladder. She has the typical group of friends and they do typical high school things. And, of course, there is a fairly standard dose of teenage drama. Over the last several days, she has come over to my house and unfolded the saga of the two friends who can't be friends. While the story is just about what you would expect, there are several things that I take away from the conversations. First, I'm really, really. really glad to be out of high school. Second, I have a great reminder of what it is like to be a teenager. I hear what words and phrases she uses. And I remember what is important to someone her age. She helps me recognize my teen voice.

How about you, friends? How do you find that inner voice of a younger self?

Where Did That Come From? -- Setting

As a teenager, I lived in a rural town in Southern Utah. (Ok. I still live there.) I read books about faraway places where the city was big or the kingdom was immense. I read pretty widely and thought that to be effective, books had to have really sweeping settings.

I didn't have sweeping settings. What I did have is some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. I didn't realize it at the time, but people come from all around the world to see the red rock canyons of Bryce Canyon and Zions National Park and the Grand Canyon. There's hiking and fishing and camping and skiing and an endless number of things to do outside. All within about two hours of where I live.

I spent so many summers in the mountains to the east of my little city. My grandparents have a family cabin somewhere near the top of Cedar Mountain. Just a short walk from the cabin, you can get lost in a forest of pine and Quakies. Dappled shadows cover the ground. If you walk far enough, you'll find a quiet lake, not much bigger than a pond. It's a fishing spot, but it's out of the way, so a lot of people go to the one by the side of the road instead. There's a little creek that feeds into the lake from one side and a marsh at the other where the water drains away. The sky reflects off the surface in little ripples as the wind dances. It was my favorite spot in the whole world.

I didn't know that years later, as I started a fairy tale story, that it was the places I knew best that would be most inspiring to my work. That little forest inspired the Beast's forest.

So, friends, have you ever been somewhere that you wanted to write about?

Where Did That Come From? -- Theme

So, I was driving in the car with my husband the other day. A song by Taylor Swift came on. You may have heard it. Here's the video to refresh your memory.



Why am I sharing this, friends? We can find inspiration and memories in the strangest places. As a teenage girl, I distinctly remember looking at the guy that I had a crush on and thinking, "How can he be dating that girl? Doesn't he know that if he dated me he'd be happier?" Listening to that song again, I was taken back to that 16 year old moment. I felt the pain of being left out and left behind. It didn't help that my family rules didn't allow me to date any one seriously in high school. I wanted more than anything to be the girl that he looked at in that special way. And I wasn't.

Sitting in my car, I knew that if a song (and more than one) had been written about that feeling, other people would probably relate to it, too. A story started to develop in my head. An idea for a contemporary piece. I may never write it, but I have a starting place. And more than that, I have a theme that can be used in other stories.

What's inspiring you today, friends?

Where Did That Come From? -- Character

Trash day. I sat on the sofa with my baby on my lap. I looked out the window and saw a shocking thing. An old man, heavyset and rumpled, was going through the trash can across the street. He would pull out items and discard them by the can until he found something interesting. He took his prize across the street and added it to a shrine that grew as he emptied the trash. He went around the yard of another neighbor and collected twigs and branches. Then he would drop the twigs into a pile in another neighbor's yard. He must have spent twenty minutes creating his work of art. When he was done, he grabbed a pair of jeans from the left overs and rode away on his bicycle.

As a mom of young kids, it was a little creepy at the time. Several of the neighbors called the police. And they didn't find him.

Later, I found myself thinking about what kind of person he might be. I imagine he probably had some sort of mental instability. But what if he didn't? What if he just went around creating random art out of trash all over the place? What would he be like as a character? And how would I describe him?

How about you, friends? Have you ever come across someone that you wanted to make into a character?

*If you haven't entered the contest to win a copy of Matched by Ally Condie, don't forget to check it out here.

Where Did That Come From? -- Idea

One day, a few years ago, I was sitting in my bed, unable to sleep. I had tried everything I could think of and nothing worked to lull me off to dreamland. I must have been pretty restless because my hubby asked what was wrong. His advice to help me fall asleep: tell yourself a story.

At that point in time, my kids were on a Lilo and Stitch kick. In my head, I kept seeing the part of the movie where Stitch is reading the story of the Ugly Duckling. Later, Stitch gets lost and the Ugly Duckling is what he relates to. While I sat there, sleepless in my bed, I started to ask myself questions about the story. And suddenly, an idea was born. What would happen if you turned Cinderella into the Ugly Duckling? Over the next half hour or so until I fell asleep, I explored that idea. The next day, it was still hanging around. I told my hubby about it and he said, "Maybe you should write it down."

Over the next several weeks, I wrote in the evenings. It took about a month and a half to finish my very first "first draft." That was the start of something amazing and the ideas have just kept coming since then. The smallest things can become a new idea.

Over the next several blogposts, I want to explore where ideas for different things like setting and character come from. I hope you'll join me.


How about you, friends? Where do your initial story ideas come from?