Writers are frequently asked ‘where do you get your ideas?’. It’s a question we all ponder, especially if we have a book due and need to decide on a project fast! I sought advice from other authors on the million dollar question – where do you find inspiration?

There are so many strange and wonderful ways in which we get ideas for stories. We collect snippets from all over the place and weave them into something quite different. I’ve been inspired by titles, places and no doubt, many things I’m unaware of. Occasionally I look at one of my stories and see a source of inspiration, even if I didn’t realise it as I wrote. For instance, in the first scene of For the Sheikh’s Pleasure, Arik, my dashing sheikh, is confined by a plaster cast and wheelchair after an oil rig accident. He’s bored and spends the dawn with binoculars watching the beautiful stranger on his private beach. Yes, I freely admit to having seen Hitchcock’s Rear Window several times, where the wheelchair-bound hero solves a crime while watching neighbouring apartments through binoculars and the lens of his camera.

I began to wonder where other writers found inspiration. For instance, my good friend, historical author Anna Campbell, insists she gets her best ideas in the bath, but admits the idea for her next release Tempt the Devil, came from watching An Affair to Remember too many times to count.

Here’s what some other authors said on the subject:

Bronwyn Jameson says “Sometimes it's a spark that inspires a storyline, or a relationship within the book, and sometimes it's a scene idea. One thing I've noticed is that the end result rarely matches the original thought by the time you've twisted and adapted it to fit the new characters and situation...but that's beside the point. The point IS that the inspiration triggered something which resulted in another interpretation.  One example:  the first Desire I ever read was Private Reasons by Justine Davis.  I loved that book for a whole lot of reasons; one was the complex relationship between the hero (an uptight accountant) and his teenage daughter and the free-spirited heroine.  That inspired me to write Seb (my slightly uptight accountant) and his teenage daughter Torie in Beyond Control (Harlequin Desire), AND to pair them both with a slightly bohemian heroine who tested his strictures of control and his way of looking at life and love.”

Ally Blake says “The idea for Falling for the Rebel Heir (M&B Romance), came after watching Cocoon on telly with my hubby....much is set in a beautiful elegant indoor pool that looks like something out of a Grace Kelly movie.  My hubby, the guy who usually is only allowed to name the pets in my books his ideas are so terrible, suggested a great way to start a book would be for the hero to find the heroine swimming in his pool.  Colour me surprised, I loved the idea!   The pool in my head had the same beautiful, eerie, magical quality and I think that rubbed off on the whole story.”

Michelle Douglas says “I set my stories in the season I'm writing - I can use my experience of the weather, see what plants are in bloom etc. ... With His Christmas Angel (M&B Romance) I didn't set out to write a Christmas book, I just started writing it in December. The hero and heroine and their conflict were firmly fixed in my mind when all of a sudden it occurred to me that Christmas and New Year - a time for families and new beginnings - was the perfect frame for telling Cassie and Sol's story ... It definitely added depth and resonance.

The latest story rattling around in my head is a direct result of my mother demanding to know when I was going to dedicate a book to her? (LOL) My reply was that I'd have to think of a story with a mother's day theme....BUT, thinking about Mother's Day got me thinking about Father's Day (of course!) - and suddenly I have two characters and a situation full blown in my head and that's the story I want to tell next (although my mother will never forgive me if I dedicate a book to my father first).”

Harlequin Presents/Sexy author Helen Bianchin is inspired by images. “Sometimes I can build a male hero from a picture in a glossy magazine ... it's the facial features, particularly the eyes, I think.  Some men can portray intense sensuality with just a look.  It's a brooding sexy quality that promises much. 

In an early book set partly in Port Douglas in the far north, I envisaged the final scene before the book was even written ... the heroine had escaped to a beachside bach, she's walking along the sandy foreshore lost in thought the hero could possibly love her the way she loves him, when she feels that prickle of awareness, glances up to see a male figure in the distance moving steadily towards her.  She pauses, waiting, hoping ... recognizing the hero as he draws close, and it becomes the moment.  I knew whatever transpired in the writing of the book, that scene was how the book would end.

Occasionally it's been the photo spread of a lovely home.  In one particular instance, it was a shot of a magnificent foyer featuring an incredible crystal chandelier, and a double staircase leading to the upper floor ... it struck a chord, this was the house the hero in my book owned. I just had to find my hero, my heroine, the theme, plot, story ... but that was okay, I had the house! 

... a character in a movie will inspire me, practically anything will inspire me!  There's only one qualifying element ... whatever it is, it has to strike a chord and provide a kernel of an idea.  From there, I build, layer, define the emotions.”

Modern Heat/Sexy Sensation author Kelly Hunter, on the other hand, says she isn’t picture-focussed: “Collaging doesn't work so well for me. A trip to the movies works better - the muse will often notice an aspect of character that I can use in the story I'm writing. I do find music inspiring when it comes to writing, though. I usually select a theme song for each book. The song invariably captures the overall tone of the book - be it passionate, bittersweet, or something I can't quite name but can feel when I hear the music. Play the song when I sit down to write and all of a sudden I'm back in the zone.”

Harlequin Historical author Annie Burrows says she’s always made up stories in her head. “Some of my best ideas recently have come to me when I've been working at really boring jobs (like reception work). Also, when stuck in traffic jams, sandwiched in between huge lorries.  I guess I just send my mind somewhere more interesting instead!”

Harlequin Medical author Fiona Lowe uses whatever is around her.  “I have used real medical situations, unusual things and tweak them to suit. eg upcoming book has little girl whose trachea is ruptured by a rooster. It happened and I clipped it out of the paper and used it about 1.5 years later.  One episode of Australian Story (television documentary) generated the idea for The Surgeon's Chosen Wife. Obviously my hero was nothing like the guy on Australian Story but the seed was there.

Oh and I remember scrumming around in the dark during a play last year and writing down a line from the play, 'a secret wears you down' and The Doctor Claims his Bride is based around that line.”

Nicola Marsh finds inspiration from articles in magazines.  “My first book, The Tycoon's Dating Deal (Harlequin Romance), came from an article I saw on speed dating in a glossy magazine between patients when I was working full time as a physiotherapist.  After I read the article, I thought 'what a great theme for a book!'  The rest is history!

Another Harlequin Romance, Princess Australia, came after reading an article on Melbourne hotel concierges in the Herald Sun travel section.  I like to put a twist on themes so cast my heroine as a stand-in concierge for a week, where she meets a prince going incognito!”

Abby Green says: “When I was on holiday in Greece a few years ago, we were on an island that had a military base. One night friends and I went out and some extremely handsome pilots turned up in the bar. One of them, the most handsome one, took a fancy to my friend who is very Irish looking, very pretty - black hair, pale skin, blue eyes - and that gave me the kernel of the idea for Chosen as the Frenchman's Bride (Harlequin Presents/Sexy) when Xavier, the hero is a debonair pilot who sees and seduces Jane. So while the story took place in France, and the hero was French, not Greek, that's where the story originated!

I think I get most of my ideas for stories from small impressions, something in a film or a picture in a magazine. It can be the smallest thing, literally the way two lovers in a film might look at one another and that'll spark a chain of thoughts/ideas.

For Bought for the Frenchman's Pleasure, my idea came from another story...which ultimately didn't go anywhere. Sorcha, the heroine was a secondary character from that book and I had this idea: what if she was a top model - but a top model who was as down to earth as you could get -  someone who hated all the trappings and limelight. But, she'd been involved with a bad incident in her past, which made it impossible for people to see her as she really was. And I loved the idea of a very alpha male coming along and assuming that he had her all summed up, only to find out that he was wrong. Now if you were to ask me where I got the idea for the original story that gave birth to Sorcha in the first place...I have no idea! Being open to new ideas and searching for inspiration is one of the nicest things about writing.”

It seems that none of us know precisely what is going to strike the chord that will spark a new idea. Obviously playing the ‘what if’ game works, as does leaving our imaginations open to the huge store of possibilities that present themselves to us every day. My own advice is not to fret about it but keep writing and be grateful when that next great idea hits!