Listen to conversations in coffee shops or take notes when a friend shares a personal experience. Be brave, some of them might even be strangers. Personal Interactions: This one can be hard for introverts, but at times we might need to venture out into the world and interact with other people. Here are five tips that may help you spot them in the wild. It’s recognizing a good idea when you see it that can be a tricky process.

There are more ideas than you could write in a lifetime of typing. Then there are the times where you are minding your own business and a great idea comes up and whaps you upside the head and screams in your face until you agree to tell the story. Sometimes they sneak up on you whispering in your ear, showing up in dreams, slipping out of sight until you finally can trap them on the page. If I was being honest, I’d have to admit: I have absolutely no idea, oh dear God, what if this was the last idea I ever get? Then I would to crumple into a fetal ball on the floor and rock back and forth until the fear of idea drought slips away. Which is what she's here to talk about today: Five Tips for Finding Inspiration.ĮILEEN COOK: One of the most common questions a writer is asked is: Where do you get your ideas? I always dread this question as I want to have a witty or clever comeback and I never do. I get to hang out with Eileen every year at the Surrey International Writers Conference in Vancouver, and she's not only a super-talented writer, she's an inspired teacher. I file her writing alongside Megan Abbott's, only for teens. Now she's just out with You Owe Me a Murder. Her most recent ones, With Malice (Entertainment Weekly called it a 'seriously creepy thriller') and The Hanging Girl, were huge bestsellers.

HALLIE EPHRON: Eileen Cook writes creepy (YAY!) young adult psychological thrillers.

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