WHERE DO IDEAS FOR BOOKS COME FROM?

by June Shaw

Many readers want to know where novelists get their ideas.

Recently I enjoyed getting a new one. I was in the post office with only the two women working at the counter when the door opened and shut behind me.

"I need to mail a shoe," a guy said.

I turned around, big smile on my face. The nice-looking young man held a woman's attractive strappy black heel.

"Okay," I said, "I'm a novelist. You have got to tell me about this shoe."

He grinned and complied, and the women and I enjoyed his story. It seems he'd flown across the country to stand in a good friend's wedding. Afterward, when he was with others from the bridal party at the airport, one of the bridesmaids' suitcases was too heavy. A couple of the guys opened their bags and let her toss some of her things in. They'd returned her things. But he found one of her shoes had remained with him--so now he wanted a box to ship it in.

"Love that story," I said and gave him one of my business cards. "Thanks for giving me the idea for one of my next books. I normally write mysteries, but that one might have to be a romance."

He held up the shoe. "Kind of like Cinderella, huh?" he said, and I agreed.

Okay, so now none of you steal this story. It happened to me, and I'm going to use it in a novel.

I came up with the idea for my newest mystery, the newly released DEADLY REUNION, at my last class reunion. Wondering who my former classmates really were and whether I'd ever completely known good friends at all, I decided I'd write a novel about one. And then setting it on an Alaskan cruise--well, somebody had to do research. And as far as my main character's mishap, I once heard Bette Middler say she strutted across a stage in really high heels and fell and broke her ankle, so...

Now tell us all -- where do you get your ideas?