Kathie DeNosky: Where Do All Those Stories Come From?

I’m often asked by readers where I get my story ideas.  When I tell them everywhere, I’m not just giving them a nice neat little answer.  I really do get inspiration for my books from everything around me.  For example, in the early days of my writing career, I was watching television with my family and a commercial came on for a gynecology clinic in my area.  That started me thinking.  What if a doctor delivered a baby and then realized that he had just delivered his own son?  Several cups of coffee and a couple of days I had worked out the plot for my third book, HIS BABY SURPRISE.

Another time, I was on the phone for a late night conversation with my good friend and fellow author, Kristi Gold.  When my weather radio came on to announce a tornado warning, we joked about me being blown over the rainbow into the land of Oz.  After a good laugh, I started thinking about the possibilities  and once again my imagination took over.  That moment of humor spawned a three book series based very loosely on The Wizard of Oz.  In my stories, instead of a scarecrow without a brain, my hero was a man without a college education, the cowardly lion was a man who as a teenager had run away from trouble with the law, and the tin man without a heart was a man who had closed off his heart to ever loving again. 

For my newest mini-series, The Good, The Bad and The Texan, it wasn’t something that I saw or joked about that gave me the idea for the six books.  It was something I heard.  I had listened to Tim McGraw’s song, “Real Good Man”, for years and always liked it.  But one day when that song came on the radio one line seemed to reach out and grab me.  The line that inspired the entire six book series was “I can be a real bad boy, but baby I’m a real good man.”  Let’s face it, we all like “bad boys” and we all love the notion that deep down they are good men.  After a little thought, I came up with the idea of six men who finished growing up on the Last Chance Ranch—a home for boys that the foster care system had given up on as lost causes.

No matter if it’s television commercial, a moment of joking around with a good friend or listening to the lyrics of a song, inspiration is all around us.  But I’ve often wondered if the books authors write inspire you in some way.  I once read a book about an overweight heroine and the tips she used to lose her extra weight.  I tried the tips and guess what?  I lost twenty-five pounds.  LOL 

So my question is, have you ever read a book that inspired you to try something you wouldn’t otherwise have thought to do, go somewhere you’ve never been or maybe change yourself in some way?  I’d love to hear how the books you read inspire you and carry over into your everyday lives.  Can’t wait to hear from everyone.

Kathie