Where Do I Get My Ideas by Kassandra Lamb -

I’m honored that author Kassandra Lamb has agreed to guest post on my blog today. Here, she discusses, “Where Do I Get My Ideas.” This guest post is a continuation of a blog tour by My Family’s Heart for Kassandra’s latest novel, “Fatal Forty-Eight.”

I hear that question a lot. For me, getting the idea has never been a problem. I’ve always had an overactive imagination. This is probably true for fiction writers in general.

In my case, that lively imagination is coupled with a slightly paranoid streak. This morbid tendency may not be all that healthy, but it does come in handy when one writes mysteries.

Writers start with a “what if” scenario. What if this happened, or that happened? After my first book was published, my paranoia kicked in and I was inordinately concerned about others plagiarizing my ideas. That got me wondering how one would prove that they had not plagiarized another person’s ideas. How do you prove a negative?

This led to the idea for my second book, ILL-TIMED ENTANGLEMENTS, which is a romantic suspense story.

This newest release, FATAL FORTY-EIGHT, started with “What if a therapist were kidnapped from his/her office?” Therapists trust that new clients coming into their offices for the first time are on the up-and-up. It’s one of those areas where people still operate on faith in their fellow human beings, kind of like when women assume no one will mess with their purse when they get up to take communion in church or to dance at a social gathering.

Hmm… *rubs chin* What if a thief stole from womens’ purses at a dance and one happened to have a secret letter in her wallet?

Uh, where was I? Oh yeah, that kidnapping scenario was the beginning of the idea for this new thriller. Then I decided to make the kidnapper a serial killer, and I was off and running.

Um, stay tuned. I may just write that one about the secret letter. *files idea in mental file drawer marked “Paranoid Scenarios”* 😀