Inspiration
The question I most often hear from people is, “Where do you get your ideas?” (I assume they’re asking about my books and not simply commenting on my mental state.) And I’m kind of embarrassed to admit, “From watching Magnum, P.I.” Ideally, authors are supposed to be inspired by classic literature or a poignant moment experienced while backpacking through Turkey. But the fact is, I spend most of my nights in my rocking chair. I’m inspired by adventures that take place in my mind.
The idea for The Douglas Files really did come to me while watching Magnum, P.I. on my parents’ TV. I was struck by all of the storylines available to the show’s writers. They had a private investigator who was also a Vietnam vet, friends with an assortment of connections and resources, and a quirky, mysterious companion in Higgins. There were an infinite number of scenarios they could play to, and I wanted to create my own version of that. I also went with a private eye, surrounded him with a wide variety of friends and acquaintances, and developed a backstory with room for intrigue. At this point, I still didn’t know in what sort of mysteries and adventures my newly created private investigator would get himself entangled. But I had a deep reservoir from which to draw, and that in itself was exciting to me.
As for specific plots for individual novels, my ideas come from everywhere: a book dust-jacket, a TV episode or promo, or a blip on the news. I take that kernel of an idea and run with it, sometimes adding other kernels to form a collage and sometimes watering it and feeding it and poking at it until it grows into a full-blown plot. My characters seem to create themselves in my head, drawn from a combination of real people and fictional characters, but mostly from my imagination. Inspiration isn’t the hard part; it’s taking hundreds of ideas and scenes and character quirks and trying to mold them all into a story. It’s taking a premise and making the plot work, finding motives for characters and answers to all the questions I come up with. Once I have all of that figured out, I start formulating a timeline, adding extemporaneous events, and filling in all the details to create a full storyboard. Then comes the fun/hard part: actually writing the novel.
Another technique I use in The Douglas Files is flashbacks. I’d seen flashbacks in movies and read flashbacks in books all my life, but they really gripped me while I was watching Lost. I thought they provided that show’s writers a great method of telling their story and I’ve been incorporating them in some fashion into everything I write ever since. In Overnight Delivery, I wanted to show who Jackson was compared to who he is now. In Three's a Crowd, the flashbacks took on a different tone as they revealed moments from Jackson's past that shaped who he is now. The flashbacks give a glimpse into who Jackson is deep inside and what makes him tick. But they are more than character exposition. Whenever I see a serial drama on TV, I can’t help but wonder if the writers know where they are going from the beginning or if they make a lot of it up as they go along. I suspect it’s somewhere in the middle, as it is for me. But when The Douglas Files close, my readers will be able to look back to the first few paragraphs of the flashback that begins Overnight Delivery and see how everything ties together.
The idea for The Douglas Files really did come to me while watching Magnum, P.I. on my parents’ TV. I was struck by all of the storylines available to the show’s writers. They had a private investigator who was also a Vietnam vet, friends with an assortment of connections and resources, and a quirky, mysterious companion in Higgins. There were an infinite number of scenarios they could play to, and I wanted to create my own version of that. I also went with a private eye, surrounded him with a wide variety of friends and acquaintances, and developed a backstory with room for intrigue. At this point, I still didn’t know in what sort of mysteries and adventures my newly created private investigator would get himself entangled. But I had a deep reservoir from which to draw, and that in itself was exciting to me.
As for specific plots for individual novels, my ideas come from everywhere: a book dust-jacket, a TV episode or promo, or a blip on the news. I take that kernel of an idea and run with it, sometimes adding other kernels to form a collage and sometimes watering it and feeding it and poking at it until it grows into a full-blown plot. My characters seem to create themselves in my head, drawn from a combination of real people and fictional characters, but mostly from my imagination. Inspiration isn’t the hard part; it’s taking hundreds of ideas and scenes and character quirks and trying to mold them all into a story. It’s taking a premise and making the plot work, finding motives for characters and answers to all the questions I come up with. Once I have all of that figured out, I start formulating a timeline, adding extemporaneous events, and filling in all the details to create a full storyboard. Then comes the fun/hard part: actually writing the novel.
Another technique I use in The Douglas Files is flashbacks. I’d seen flashbacks in movies and read flashbacks in books all my life, but they really gripped me while I was watching Lost. I thought they provided that show’s writers a great method of telling their story and I’ve been incorporating them in some fashion into everything I write ever since. In Overnight Delivery, I wanted to show who Jackson was compared to who he is now. In Three's a Crowd, the flashbacks took on a different tone as they revealed moments from Jackson's past that shaped who he is now. The flashbacks give a glimpse into who Jackson is deep inside and what makes him tick. But they are more than character exposition. Whenever I see a serial drama on TV, I can’t help but wonder if the writers know where they are going from the beginning or if they make a lot of it up as they go along. I suspect it’s somewhere in the middle, as it is for me. But when The Douglas Files close, my readers will be able to look back to the first few paragraphs of the flashback that begins Overnight Delivery and see how everything ties together.