Searching through cobwebs…

This one to the authors out there…

Plotting is like searching through cobwebs


How do the ideas for your books come to you? Inspiration is a drip feed for me – and an erratic one. At the moment, I’m developing the storyline for the next Alice book. I have the setting, the mood, and some of the characters. I have some of the weirdness and scariness. But the detailed storyline is taking a while. It moves on at the pace of one new insight every day or two.


Sometimes, the ideas and plots race in, in quite a manic way. Last summer, I sat in the garden in the sun and two novels formed clearly in my head. One of them, I wrote over a couple of months before Christmas (this is next year’s Christmas ghost story, a standalone). But at other times, the process can be a bit tortuous. I know exactly where the Ghosts of Alice series is going and have strong ideas for the next book. But the meat of this plot is taking its time. It’s like I’m searching through cobwebs.


That said, I know it is only a matter of time. One thing I do have faith in, is the ability of my subconscious to solve problems and be creative. I’ll go for a walk, or wake in the middle of the night, or be sitting watching a film, and the idea for the next scene pops into my head. It’s just that sometimes it whizzes. And sometimes… it doesn’t, and the webs don’t clear.


How about you?

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