Frequently Asked Question: What’s The Big Idea?

Hi, everyone. It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for a question from the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?

They can come from anywhere. A piece of music. A theatrical production. A phrase that occurs to me (that was the honest-to-Diety inspiration for “Gaul is Divided,” one of the stories in Around the World in 80 Pages). A writing prompt. A news article. A non-fiction work.

If you want to see some direct examples, please check out my posts under the Author’s Inspiration category.

Frequently Asked Question: What Would You Do Instead?

Well, here we are on the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for a question from the Insecure Writers Support Group.

If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with?

International espionage. After all, I like to travel.

Seriously, though, this question is strange to me. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. My mom has a little booklet of four-line tales I wrote in the third grade or so. I can’t imagine *not* writing.

Frequently Asked Question: When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

Today’s question comes from the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

My inspiration comes from all over the place, to be honest. It might be a news item, a piece of music, my travels … anything is fodder for a tale.

The Seen Through the Phantom’s Eyes series was inspired by Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The Rock Star in the Mirror (Or, How David Bowie Ruined My Life) was an ode to my favorite performer. Rose in Bloom was inspired by me thinking about who might have lived in a cottage I designed for a game.

What about you? Where do you get your ideas?

Frequently Asked Question: Feels Like The First Time

Hi, everyone. It’s the first Wednesday of the month, which means it’s time for a question from the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Here we go!

Do you remember writing your first book? What were your thoughts about a career path on writing? Where are you now and how is it working out for you? If you’re at the start of the journey, what are your goals?

Yep, I remember it well. I was a professional journalist at the time. The book was called Born of War … Dedicated to Peace; it was a history of Sixth US Army, written to give as a souvenir during the June, 1995, inactivation ceremony. A lot of people are probably surprised when they learn that my first book was a work of military history.

I’m no longer a professional journalist, but I have written numerous books on my own and participated in several anthologies, so there are 37 books out there with my name on them.

A few years ago, I found a copy of Born of War … in my belongings and scanned it into Scribd. You can read it here.

Born of War … Dedicated t… by Sharon Cathcart

Frequently Asked Question: Green With Envy?

Hello, friends. It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it must be time for a question from the Insecure Writers Support Group:

Have you ever read a line in novel or a clever plot twist that caused you to have author envy?

Only once, that I can recall. The opening paragraphs of Danny Gardner’s brilliant noir fiction, A Negro and an Ofay, put me right in the middle of the action like nothing I’d read before. Two chapters in, I told my husband that I wanted to write like Gardner when I grew up. I was only partially tongue-in-cheek; I don’t do noir. However, Gardner’s gift is undeniable. You’ll find my review here.