Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss

Christie Craig | Questions I Generally Get Asked

July 21, 2009

Where do you get your ideas?

I sometimes tell people I go to the idea store and rummage through the clearance racks to find a jewel I can make my own. Something a little different. Maybe even a bit like Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, something no one else would think about taking home. But I just know if I add the right elements to this discarded idea, I can make it sparkle.

Another way I answer this question is to explain that the idea fairy flew by and accidentally dropped something and I found the treasure stuck to the bottom of my tennis shoe like a piece of gum. You know that ABC gum that is so hard to get off? Well, sometimes it’s as if some fallen idea gets stuck in my head, and my first reaction is, “Oh, hell, no way! Get outta here. There’s a reason the idea fairy dropped your butt. You are a complete reject!” But the idea hangs on and on, until I begin to see the value in it.

Now, neither of those answers are lies. Because heaven knows that sometimes it feels just like that. But I suppose the answer closest to the truth would be that my ideas stem from a collage of experiences, events, and moments that make up my own life. Yes, my life really is that crazy.

2) Most writers will admit that while they write fiction there are some basic truths about themselves in each book. What part of your latest release, GOTCHA! is based on truth?

Well, I really did work at a pizza place. As a matter of fact I wrote about how one very bad day at the pizza place is probably the catalyst for my writing humorous romantic suspense. Let’s just say in one shift, I was accused of robbing the store, had about six Los Angeles police officers pointing weapons at me, had a crazy man pull out a knife large enough to skin Bambi and insist I return the credit card that he stole from someone else, and then had a mean-looking dude in a trench coat pull out another big gun and tell me to get behind the counter. You can read the whole story about that bad day at Dorchester.

3) Do you ever get writer’s block or have days when your muse isn’t with you?

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