Schenectady

 I forget which famous writer was asked "Where do you get your ideas?" and replied, "Schenectady."

Just recently I was asked if there was a website that served as a kind of idea bank for those people who have great ideas for stories but don't have the talent to write them. They figure they'll put their ideas up, and if a talented writer likes it, they'd go halfsies. 

Ideas come from experience. That's not to say "write what you know," but it's true that you can't write what you don't know.

Experience doesn't mean you have to live through the ideas you have. Heaven knows, I have no idea how to cast a spell by playing a guitar. However, I have a husband and son who play guitar, so I can see how it's done. I can describe a chord's voicing, how to make overtones, and what an arpeggio is. 

Back in the late '70s, my husband and I began playing Dungeons and Dragons, like many other fen. My half-Elf bard became the basis for my ideas. As I developed her character, she became my muse. It often felt like she was dictating stories to me. Gwynna Lionshadow spawned three completed novels and maps for three more, as well as inklings for another three novels and a couple short stories. if you Google the name, you can probably still find the online collaborations we had going on AOL's message boards: The Red Sign of the Old Hole, The Night of the Reaper, and Across the Crimson Sands. 

The best part about those collaborations was that we challenged one another to do better. "Steel sharpens steel," as it were. I wrote some of my best work on those boards. Gwynna had to sing songs, so I wrote songs too. I owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Holzwarth, "Eadmund," who taught me how to stay inside a character's head and how to trace details in a scene. He would also write scenes leaving Gwynna stranded with no clothing somewhere, and I had to write her back into the action. He challenged me every day to write smarter. I dare you to read my chapter where Tig goes to fetch back the Red Witch, without emptying a box of tissues.

Experience also means things that you see, hear, taste, and smell every day. When Jack and I traveled to France and spent the nights in châteaux, I absolutely had to write about a woman living in a small château in the Loire valley. After watching Impromptu I knew I wanted to write about the 1840s, the beginning of the great Industrial Revolution, not the classic Victorian steampunk everyone was writing. 

I also wanted my writing to reflect my beliefs. I despise misogyny in all its forms. I've been the victim of sexual assault and its subsequent shaming. I despise racism and homophobia. I'm Christian, but I acknowledge God as perceived by other religions like Islam and Hinduism, while I do NOT acknowledge God in the preaching of some Christians, Muslims, and Hindus--a god of hatred and condemnation who foments violence against others.

If you have an idea for a story, write it. If it's not good enough, re-write it. Get together with other folks who are trying to write their ideas. Writers write. That's the only definition you need to become a writer.