Where Do You Get Your Ideas? (And Does It Matter?)

"Where do you get your ideas?"

I mean, really, is there any other question so ubiquitous in the life of an author?

That said, it’s also a GREAT question because I know as a reader I often find myself looking up from the page and thinking, “I wonder how the author came up with this?”

After all, since the birth of the Internet we all have access to scads and scads of information. So how can it be that two people might look at the same occurrence or the same news article or the same commentary and then disappear into their offices to write two entirely different books? How can it be that Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse (once called her “Southern Vampire” series) be incredibly different from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight? Which is different from Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat? Which is different from Bram Stoker’s Dracula? Which is different from Rosemary Laurey’s Kiss Me Deadly?

Truth to tell, there’s nothing new under the sun. Or, ahem, under the full moon either.

Today I found an old handout from Lou Heckler, one of my favorite speakers. Check him out at http://www.louheckler.com/ It would be difficult to find a more thoughtful, entertaining and erudite platform professional. If you ever get the chance to see him, by all means do. (While you listen, pay careful attention to the structure of his talk. He’s very canny about the order he uses to present and emphasize information. Really, each time he speaks, it’s a master class in the art of giving an effective presentation.) In this particular handout, Lou discussed how “theme” is not the same as “slant.” You see, all those books I mentioned above have vampires as their theme. Each book, however, has a different slant.

Charlaine Harris’s work raises questions about xenophobia, what it means to be human, and whether our prejudices might stem, in part, from our religious beliefs.

Stephenie Meyer’s work takes the form of a romance novel with its extended riff on unfulfilled sexual promise, but she is writing about the trauma of being an awkward teenager.

Anne Rice’s work had a decidedly gothic theme and a religious viewpoint. Their setting—New Orleans—was as vibrant as any character.

Bram Stoker’s work wasn’t the first mention of vampires in literature, but it was probably the great granddaddy of most of what we think about the undead, blood-suckers. Written in epistolary form (diary and newspaper articles provide much of the information), it sprang from the legend of “Vlad the Impaler.” The novel is supposedly a riff on the clash between the new world and the old.

Rosemary Laurey’s work is incredibly romantic and yet very modern. It follows many of the ideals of popular romance novels, but adds in the sort of questions that are part of our zeitgeist.
As I write this, I think of the classes I’ve taught about getting published. Many times students will tell me they fear having their ideas stolen. That’s reasonable. That can happen. But most ideas for books are fungible. It’s the slant, the plotting, and the author’s voice, that make a book unique—and therefore, salable.

A Mystery for the Ages

By Deborah Sharp

What's up with Amazon? In a riddle to rival the Great Sphinx of Egypt, my mystery keeps getting paired with books that don't appear to have much in common with Mama Does Time.

I'll admit it: I click on my own book pages at Amazon to see what's shaking. Usually, it's nothing much. New customer reviews? A star from Publishers Weekly? Rankings rocketing into the single digits, biting at the nape of Ms. Stephenie Meyer?

Nope. Nope. And, You've got to be kidding. And, yes, I do check out my Amazon rankings. I know, I know .... they're not supposed to mean anything; it's some arcane formula that has to do with movement of your book and not actual sales figures, yada yada yada. Everybody checks out their numbers. Authors who say they don't are like those Hollywood stars who claim, ''I never read reviews.''

Right. And you don't Google yourself, either.

Anyway ... The Telltale Turtle: A Pet Psychic Mystery by Joyce and Jim Lavene? There's nary a turtle nor a psychic of any sort in Mama Does Time.
A. K. Azern's The Case of the Bouncing Grandma? Ditto and ditto. Negatory on the bouncing. Not a single grandmother.

Now, I'm sure those books are fun reads, and their authors are probably asking, "Who the heck is this Mama, and what does she have to do with my title?'' I am by no means complaining. I'm thrilled that anyone is buying the book, no matter what they choose to buy it with. I'd get a kick, though, to see the PG-rated Mama partnered up on Amazon with some dark, erotic thriller. Or, maybe a couple of physicists, needing a break from reading Quantum Enigma, could mosey on over and become ''Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought'' . . . Mama.

Hey, it could happen. If there's a distortion in the time-space continuum.

I am pleased to report that in Amazon's Inappropriately Capitalized category of What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item, fully 91 percent buy Mama Does Time. (Ninety-one percent of how many? Who knows.)
Of course, I immediately began to worry about the fate of my upcoming Mama Rides Shotgun
Just 48 percent of customers buy this one after viewing. It's not out until July. Are they reluctant to pre-order? Perhaps the anti-gun lobby disapproves of the title? The cover shows a saddle on a horse. Is it equinophobia? Perhaps Amazon's customers don't like Cow Hunter chili.

What does it mean??? Who knows. It's a mystery for the ages.

How about you? What mystifies you about the Great and Powerful Amazon?