Getting into the How of Creativity

Not "where" do you get your ideas, but HOW? Do they come to you as images? Memories? Overheard conversations?

Brenda at the keyboard.

This question gets to the nuts and bolts of creativity and how it works. I'm not convinced that I can provide any concrete answers because I'm honestly not certain how or where some of my ideas come from. However, I'd say that everything in my life's experiences - where I go, what I read, conversations I've had, things I've witnessed - stay somewhere in my brain and come out on the page. They're changed to suit whatever story I'm writing, but the essence of the idea or character starts with something I've experienced.

Those events that leave the most lasting impression or that bother me are most likely to end up on the page, either as an issue or as part of a character. My books have therefore dealt with some difficult topics, although not as the main focus of the stories, which are murder mysteries at heart. In the Stonechild and Rouleau series, for example, teenage prostitution, racism, and forced marriage have all found their way into the plots.

When writing a scene, the images pop into my head, but the description of a location arises from somewhere I've been, no matter how long ago. Sometimes, the actual place can spark an idea for a story. I recently wrote a short story titled "The Final Hit" that is published in the anthology Cold Canadian Crime that began with a walk through some woods in St. Catharines. In Fatal Harvest, the third Hunter and Tate mystery, a drive home through the back roads past a village called Ashton, gave rise to the idea of a murder in the country.

As for characters and where they come from, some are based on people I've known while others might start with a character trait, but they take on their own personality as I write. Their back stories emerge along with the story.

I've often said that the process of writing has a magical element to it. The beauty of creating worlds and characters is that every author brings something different and original based on their experiences, spirit, and way of looking at the world. It's in the crafting of the stories where the intangible happens, where that je ne sais crois takes over and a new book, poem, or short story is born.

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