Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Ideas--Ideas by Leann Harris

Yesterday, Barbara, stole my thunder. Where do writers get ideas? They hang in the air. Really, if your brain is geared for "what if" then you see story ideas everywhere. You read the paper and there's an idea. You miss you 20th high school reunion, there's a story idea (which I did. I got ready to go the weekend after the reunion, but what a great for a story. Hero and Heroine make the same mistake.)


I will say, ideas fly at you. Now writing those ideas and plotting them is a whole other animal. And that idea might undergo some changes and morphs into another thing, but the ideas are just waiting. I had a book come from a teasing session with my husband one afternoon in the kitchen. We were throwing around titles and he came up with "How Tall is Red?" I liked that title so much, I did a book around it. I thought of following that book up with the other titles, "How far is Yellow", "How Deep is Blue", "How Wide is Orange." You get the idea. How Tall is Red did get published, but the name was changed to Undercover Husband. I still used the line "How tall is red?" The heroine got a note from her dead husband with the book title on it.

4 comments:

Debby Giusti said...

How tall is red?

Love it!!!

And the series idea! Too bad marketing didn't want to go with the title you suggested. But then they know what they're doing.

Hugs!

Leann Harris said...

I loved it, too, but maybe it would work in a mystery line.

Mystery and Mayhem said...

Leann, I'm so sorry for taking your idea! If it's any consolation, you idea of a woman getting a note from a dead husband is something I've always wanted to write about.
Love you post. Love your question titles. Exactly how tall IS red?

Sheri Salatin said...

Great post and such fun! You are right, ideas come from anything, anywhere. I try to keep them at bay as much as possible during church, but... :o)