The question is always the same. Every time I tell a non-writer that I am a published author the question is bound to come up.
Where do you get your ideas?
Funny, other writers never ask me this question because we all know the answer…everywhere. But saying “everywhere” to a non-writer isn’t really a great answer. So today I thought I would share a recent inspirational or “ah ha” moment that sprouted a book idea.
Everyone’s writing process is different. For me it all starts with one scene and then like a seed from a flower grows from there. For example, I just watched the move, Friends With Kids. Now the movie wasn’t my all-time favorite, not even one that I would watch again, but as a writer I had to give, Jennifer Westfeldt, the writer of Friends With Kids, props. She wrote a traditional romantic comedy, but without falling into all the romantic comedy clichés.
The last scene in particularly got me. This is the typical scene where boy tells girl he really does love her and that she has been the one all along. But instead of saying some trite dialogue the male lead says, “I’m going to f*&k the s*#t out of you. Please let me f&^k the s#*t out of you.”
Not the typical romantic dialogue, to say the least.
Reading this without seeing the movie we might rightly assume the male lead is a dick. (Well, he is mainly.) But in the whole context of the movie it actually worked for me. So this got me thinking. How do I get an unsympathetic hero to move through his character arc so well that by the end of the story my hero can say, “I want to f*#k the s#*t out of you,” to the heroine and we the reader would still be rooting for him?
Hence, the story idea is born.
I love a challenge. I love flawed and tortured characters. I love seeing heroes and heroines move toward better versions of themselves. These are the stories I like to read. These are the stories I love to create.
What about you? What type of stories or characters do you like to read or write about? What inspires you to create? Answer one of the questions in the comments below along with your email address and be entered to win an e-book copy of my newest book, TEXAS WIDE OPEN. Below are the book blurb and a quick teaser. Enjoy!
Blurb for TEXAS WIDE OPEN:
“A tortured hero, a love that defies distance and time…this is a book you won’t soon forget.” –Cat Johnson
Katie Harris loved growing up on a ranch. She had her horse, the beautiful Texas prairie, and Cole Logan, the cowboy next door. But there are a lot of secrets hidden under a Texas sky…
Katie always knew she’d marry Cole one day—until he broke her dreams and her heart. But now that Katie’s father is sick, she’s back home, older, wiser and nowhere near the love-sick fool she once was.
Cole knows Katie doesn’t want anything to do with him. But after so many years, he can’t pretend she’s no more than a neighbor. Holding his ground was hard enough when she was seventeen. Now that she’s her own woman, Cole’s heart doesn’t stand a chance…
“Passionate, gritty and fast paced…with a hot blooded, honorable hero to make every woman's knees go weak.”—Diane Whiteside
Blurb for DARK FUTURE:
Awakened in the middle of the night by a future version of herself, Kris Davenport is given a mission: go forward in time to save the world—and His life. Of course, her future self doesn't tell her who he is, just sends her into an abyss and straight into an alien invasion.
He turns out to be ConRad Smith, the callous, untrusting Commander of Earth’s army and the world’s last defense. There’s only one way to know for sure if this strange woman is an alien spy—slice her throat. Except, he didn’t anticipate the heat he would feel as he interrogates the hot-tempered, warm-blooded woman. For a man whose sole focus has been survival, she's more temptation than he can handle. But a world on the brink of destruction leaves no room for love…and time is running out.
Katie watched as Cole slowly turned, and at the sight of his bare chest, smooth and ripped with muscle, she locked her knees to keep upright. Instead of his inviting smile, there was a hardness she rarely saw that contrasted with the desire in his eyes.
Cole stood and stared. The silence between them crackled as if a whole conversation could be said without words.
Her breathing quickened as her nipples contracted into small, tight buds, sensitive to the brush of the cotton across them. She refused to hide her body’s reaction even as a flush of heat rushed to her cheeks. She’d been waiting all of her life for this moment. She was tired of hiding. She was ready. Unashamed, she gazed in his eyes and let the wealth of her feelings pour into her face.
Cole was no coward—he returned stare for stare—but she could see his jaw flex and knew he was pissed. She’d pushed him hard, but this was where the women separated themselves from the girls.
“I’m not a child any longer.” She took a step closer.
“And I told you, if you wear that shirt again, I’ll burn it,” he growled.
But Cole would have to do more than display a little anger to scare her. Before she lost courage, Katie crossed her arms and pulled.
She threw her shirt in his face, along with her challenge. “Go ahead and do it.”
Buy Links for TEXAS WIDE OPEN:
Amazon e-book: http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Wide-Open-ebook/dp/B008H6GJ4K/ref=la_B007378AKK_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1346863687&sr=1-3
Barns and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/texas-wide-open-kc-klein/1112026879?ean=9781601830210
Buy Links for DARK FUTURE:
Amazon e-book: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Future-ebook/dp/B005JSMM8Q
Amazon print book: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Future-Kc-Klein/dp/0062117041
Avon Impulse: http://www.avonromance.com/buy/dark-future-epb/
Barns and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-future-kc-klein/1105159509?ean=9780062113795&itm=1&usri=dark+future
Links to social media:
Twitter: @kckleinbooks
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKCKlein
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/KC-Klein
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