Journalist and novelist Jim Lehrer wrote an article for washingtonpost.com about how he has written his 17 novels.
He calls his inspirations “lightning ideas.” Here’s what he says about his latest novel, “Eureka”: I was walking through a big antique show at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington when I spotted a small cast iron toy on a shelf in a dealer's stall. That triggered the notion of a man buying an expensive antique toy fire engine and then maybe a BB gun, a football helmet and, finally, a Cushman motor scooter exactly like the ones he had wanted for various Christmases when he was a kid. His family couldn't afford them at the time, but now he can.”
Lehrer reveals, “My 17 novels have been launched by a variety of fleeting thoughts and images such as these.”
Obviously these are only starting points and it requires a lot of work to turn them into full stories. But I suspect that most of us let those “lightning ideas” flash by. It’s another reason for following the traditional advice of carrying a little notebook so you can jot down any such inspirations.
