One of the more interesting questions I get asked when someone discovers I have written 4 novels is where I got the inspirations or the ideas. For The Gemstone Chronicles, it’s a very easy answer, but for my latest WIP, the inspirations and the ideas came from an entirely different source. I will talk about them separately below.
I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, although I can’t remember the first book I read. Money earned from my paper route in Lakewood, Colorado bought every single Hardy Boy book available at the time (early to mid-70s). I bought Nancy Drew books, Alfred Hitchcock and the 3 Investigators, and a myriad of others. The Science Fiction Book Club got a lot of my money. I read Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Roger Zelazny, Isaac Asimov, Terry Brooks, Stephen Donaldson, Ursula K. LeGuin, and the list goes on and on.
Gemstones:
Why do I mention that? Well, as many of you know, I developed a fascination with gemstones after moving to North Georgia in 2007. While out hunting gemstones one summer afternoon, my grandson, Aidan, and I were discussing the “magical” and “mystical” properties of gems. Aidan, who loves playing World of Warcraft and similar games, told me I should write a book about gemstones, elves, and magic. Though I hadn’t aspired to be a writer, I agreed I would write a book. I knew a few things about world building from my reading of the authors mentioned above, I love to read fantasy, and I already had a plan on what to write. Thus, I had my ideas and my inspirations and the series was born! I even incorporated the gemstones on the covers of the books.
On the cover is the carnelian (first gem in the Elven Bow) along with the stones in the hilt of the Elven Sword, which include a sapphire, a garnet, and aquamarine, and a topaz. You can read all about the gemstones on the cover here.
It did take some time to research which gems would be integral to the story and which would have minor roles. I wanted to have gems with unique properties and I wanted the gems to tie to the personalities of the characters. This meant, of course, that I could draw inspirations and ideas from them. A win-win!
The Georgia Guidestones:
For my current WIP, I used to watch a program on History Channel called Brad Meltzer’s Decoded. One of the episodes was about the Georgia Guidestones. Lana, my lovely and adorable bride, and I visited the Guidestones one sunny afternoon. After the visit, I came away with new inspirations and ideas for my next book. The Guidestones are mysterious. and have a fascinating history behind them. The stones are the subject of conspiracy theories and have been almost since the day they were erected. They lend themselves very nicely to what I have in mind. The book will be unlike The Gemstone Chronicles. It is a thriller (or at least it is now…who knows how things will change during the writing process).
What inspires other writers?
This got me wondering what other writers use for inspirations and ideas? Do they get ideas from listening to the news? Do they have hobbies or interests that lead them down a certain literary path? Is it a current event? Something they witnessed or lived through? Ideas raised by other writers? All of the above? If you are a writer, please tell me what gave you the inspirations and ideas for your own works. I would love to hear about them!
Connect with me:
As always, I enjoy connecting with readers, writers, and anyone else who wants to leave me a comment. I can be found on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook. Email me at bill@williamlstuart.com!
If you’ve read any of The Gemstone Chronicles, leave me a comment and let me know how you liked the books. If you want to let the world know what you thought, leave me a review on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, or Goodreads! I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Bill!
I’m a new author with my first mid-grade fantasy published in September last year, so I don’t have a lot of experience in actually publishing yet, though I, like you have read all my life and I always wanted to be an author.
‘Silver Lightning’ was actually the result of a very vivid dream I had, so it basically came ‘ready made’ but I had more trouble coming up with something for the next one (WIP). I read an interesting piece about finding good topics to write about and it included the idea of taking a piece of technology and coming up with a plot regarding how what had been designed to be of great use to us could be turned on its head and used for evil purposes. Having thought about that for a while I suddenly found the idea behind what I’m writing now, which will be an adult sci-fi murder mystery taking place on another planet.
Hi Wendy!! First, congratulations on your debut novel from last year! I love to hear about milestones like that! And thanks for telling us how you were inspired to write. I hadn’t heard about the technology idea, but, unknowingly, it plays a part in my current WIP! When you get close to your release date for your latest book, please let me know!
Great topic! I often get a story idea in the form of a character or a place – in a current science fiction I’m working on, one of the main characters sprang into being as I was looking at a photo of a statue posted on an archaeology website. A romantic mystery I just started got a main plot concept from a lecture I attended by a former CNN correspondent. A fantasy that is currently in the world creation stage started as only the name of a city gate that popped into mind as I was looking at the ceiling and not consciously doing anything. Some time later the main character surfaced in the same way. There was some recent press about the need for creative people to have plenty of time when they are “bored” as the researchers called it, staring into space and not doing anything. A lot is actually going on down inside the brain somewhere, but it needs freedom from constant outside stimulation in order to do its thing. Now all I need is the time to write all of these out! I’m well into the sci fi but only in entry stages of the other two.
Hi Karen. Thanks for sharing how your ideas came about.I particularly like the staring into space thing. I spent a number of years aboard a submarine (long before I wrote anything), and we had some serious boredom at times (and no Internet in those days – not that we could have connected underwater), so we invented ways to keep ourselves entertained. The quiet time helped us come up with some very inventive games!
I admire the way you can write in multiple genres. I have to be focused on what I’m doing so i can keep it straight!
Best of luck with your writing. Please let me know when your release date approaches!
Congrats Bill!! Its a great step to launch a book on gemstones, I feel its the best way to explore your experience and knowledge to the readers. I have been following various information sources on gemstones and one of them can be viewed here- http://www.jewelexi.com/blog/fashion/cure-the-feeling-of-apathy-with-the-power-of-gemstonesThese kind of sources can be very helpful for us.
Thanks for the resource. It may indeed come in handy in the future!