Ideas for a story

Hi Everyone:

          I have spent over fifteen years pursuing the art of writing, much of that time in the company of other writers. It seems to me that one of the most frequently asked question by those thinking about joining us is; “Where do you get your story ideas?”

          In answering that, I’m tempted to repeat what Edison once said when asked a similar question about the source of ideas for his many inventions, from the ethereal. Truly, ideas for stories are everywhere. They exist in our daily routines. You take your car in for repair and overhear an argument. You turn on the TV and a news report catches your ear. You look at the sky and see changing cloud formations. You serve your church, your community, your country and observe an incident that makes you wonder. You watch the Olympics and see a runner with no feet, or pick up an old newspaper, read a passage in your Bible, or a story from mythology. Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real that you wanted to write it down before it vanished?

          Here is how I got the idea that culminated in my first novel, Path to a Pardon. A TV newscaster reported that Governor George W. Bush had a problem. DNA proved that a man doing time in a Texas prison was not guilty. It posed a big question, would the Governor, who was considering a run for the presidency, free the man? His father, George H.W. Bush, had heavily criticized Governor Michael Dukakis back in 1988 for granting a temporary release to Willy Horton, a murderer. Horton committed rape while on furlough.

 I thought; if you were politically inclined and had a friend in prison for a crime you didn’t think he committed, why not run for governor and pardon him. I soon found out it’s not that simple. It led to lots of twists and turns when I wrote the novel, Path to a Pardon. To learn more about it, please go to novels on my website at:      http://joshswritingroom.com

Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific minds of all time said; “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”