I know it’s well intentioned, and people are curious, but I think I hate this question.
Hear me out.
I’ve been getting this question a lot, especially as I begin to embark on this journey of LOU4 (title to come). This is a book I think I’ve wanted to write for a while.
I used to ghostwrite novels as a freelancer, and I had the idea for one of the books in the series written on my hand for two months. (I constantly forgot that my phone had a notes app, but I always, always had a pen on me.) This was something I was excited to write, but I HATED freelancing. (Seriously. 25K in a week gave me carpal tunnel. It was fun until it wasn’t.) But now I get to write it as a part of my series under my name. It goes so perfectly with the series I’m writing now. I can’t wait to get started, even with a mound of research in front of me.
But I can never explain where my ideas come from.
I feel like it’s akin to asking me why the sky is blue, or why clouds or like that, or why children’s skulls are just so weird. I do not know.
What I do know is that I’m constantly looking into things: cold cases, historical cases, cases that are popular, cases that are unpopular. Those are always my favourite starting point. Sometime that starts as an inspiration.
Dead Dead Girls was, famously, based right off of Jack the Ripper.
Harlem Sunset was based off of nothing.
A Lethal Lady was based off of a case, but you don’t care, so I won’t tell you.
LOU4 is also based off of nothing.
As Long As You’re Mine was very barely sort of kind of based off of Marilyn Monroe.
It’s a hazard of the job that I end up thinking about murder a lot. But not just murder. People who disappear. People who rob banks. Crime is interesting. And there is always something that triggers the impulse to write a book.
Once I get that kernel of an idea, I can start to build the story, most usually around Lou. Sometimes built around something else.
For me, the problem has never been ideas. I can do ideas. Ideas are really just vibes. What’s harder for me is execution. I have so many ideas, so many wants on my writing list. And I’m worried that I won’t be able to write them all. I know that I won’t be able to write them all. I also know they won’t all be amazing ideas.
But, as I said, I have so many ideas. They can’t all be winners.
Trying to sort out what to write next is the most annoying part, honestly. Trying to sort through my wants to find the perfect next thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I’m nervous about writing this new book. I’m hoping it can live up to the standard I’ve set. I’m aware that I bit off more than I could chew with LADY.
But the idea is there, and as long as I’m excited about the idea, I can pull it off.
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