What’s the big idea?
One of my favorite lines from a film is during The Trouble with Angels when Hayley Mills who plays a troublemaker teenager says, “I have a scathingly brilliant idea!”
Mine may not be scathingly brilliant but for many a spark or an idea can be a figurative pot of gold. I got my idea for The Past Came Hunting after listening to Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley’s country song “Walk Away Joe.” The lyrics surround a seventeen-year-old girl who refuses to listen to her mother and runs off with her bad-news boyfriend. As the song goes, the girl waits in the car while the young man robs a gas station.
During a police ride-along, I asked the officer I was riding with what would happen to the girl?
“Seventeen. In the commission of a felony,” he replied. “She might be charged as an accessory—might even be tried as an adult and go to prison.” My kids were near that age at the time and I was appalled.
Later I asked him, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to you as a police officer?” Without hesitation, he answered, “If an ex-con moved next door to me.”
Boom! I had my story.
I researched how some authors came up with ideas and discovered:
J.K. Rowling got her idea for Harry Potter from a delayed train journey.
J.R.R. Tolkein, creator of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, got the idea for the Hobbit from a random sentence he wrote while grading papers.
Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games, was channel surfing and watching young people compete for a million-dollar contest.
Still, ideas can be nebulous and are often fleeting. Author Hank Phillippi Ryan and I discussed this during an interview. She said her muse show up at a restaurant. She reached for a napkin, then her pen and started writing. All I can say is if an idea or inspiration strikes, be ready to focus and find a way to jot it down.
Finally, my favorite anecdote about ideas and inspiration has to be from musician John Tesh who shared his backstory when he created Roundball Rock, the Chicago Bulls theme song, which in 2025 became the overall theme song for the NBA. The story as well as the score is breathtaking. Here’s the Youtube link and well worth a listen:
https://youtu.be/V_h7Lm7C9Nk?si=L-qVONhk5fTx3ej1
How about you? Got any goldmine ideas you’ve encountered to write a book or otherwise? Where do you get your ideas?
Donnell, I swear we were separated at birth. The Trouble with Angels was one of my favorite movies back in the day. Also loved the original Parent Trap. I was a huge Hayley Mills fan.
As for inspiration, a very strange neighbor was the inspiration for Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the 14th book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. He’d spend hours each day, shoeless and shirtless, pushing a lawn mower back and forth over his small weed-infested front yard. When the mower ran out of gas, he’d sit on his front stoop and guzzle beer until he passed out.
I never new we were Hayley Mills fans, Lois. Learn something new every day 🙂 Re: your neighbor. I don’t call that a germ of an idea. I call that an absolute explosion!
Make that knew we were …
First, I love the origin story of that song. I’m not into basketball, so I’d never heard it, but loved the backstory. Thanks for sharing the link.
Second, I have seen The Trouble with Angels (and the sequel Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows). As a young girl, I wanted to BE Mary Clancy (though not being Catholic, becoming a nun seemed out of the question).
Third, I love your origin story of how you came to The Past Came Hunting (another great song, btw, from Trisha and Henley), though my fave from Trisha is “she’s in love with the boy.” Never fails to bring a tear to my eye.
Thanks for such a fun post… as for my inspiration, it’s life. Every nugget I experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly, is carefully filed away for future reference!
Judy, love Trisha Yearwood. Thanks for the reminder of one of her other hits! As for basketball, I’m not much on the NBA, however, the WNBA is on my radar these days. Women players are really making names for themselves! Funny, I am Catholic, and I wanted to BE Mary Clancy, too. Although I thought of a more dramatic order the Carmelites. Carmelite nuns take a vow of silence. Not sure I could pull it off 😉
Great post, Donnell! Keeping my eyes wide open for the next scathingly brilliant idea!
Always, Saralyn! I have complete faith in you. I just inked out a prescription bottle and got a scathingly brilliant idea, too. Just call me Mary Clancy! Now off to write it down before I forget it!
That spark of inspiration can be so inspiring. It’s wonderful that you turned it into author gold.
Thanks, gay! Im sure you have too, right?
Love this post, Donnell. I’m late in reading it as I’ve been on crazy deadline and getting ready to leave for Malice Domestic, but had to chime in anyway. Love the quote and you’re so right that those sparks of ideas can come from the most random things. The Pampered Pet series was a combination of a trip down the Pacific Coast while Tim was at a logistics conference. And an artist friend who had suddenly gotten very busy painting murals in pet spas. Voila! Pampered Pets, a beach community, and murder. 🙂 Love your story about the origin to The Past Came Hunting!!