This week Karen Michelle Nutt visits the blog. I met Karen online through Six Sentence Sunday and fell in love with her snippets about the Loch Ness Monster and cowboys in the Old West. Who doesn't love action, adventure, romance and magic? Karen writes paranormal and historical western romance and her brand is Time Travel, Magic, and Otherworldly Tales. Today I asked her one question how she choose which tales get written.
BBTF: You write many fantastic worlds, from the magic of the Loch Ness Monster to the historical Old West. Where do your ideas come from and how do you choose the next tale to write?
Karen: Good question and a difficult one to answer. Where do I get my ideas? I guess from daydreaming when I'm bored and I start to wonder what if… Like what if a statue could come alive at certain times of the day? (The Gryphon & His Thief) What if you could travel back in time to 16th century Ireland? (Lost in the Mist of Time) What if a woman outlaw wanted to change her life, could she? What if the Watchers (Nephilim) could change their destinies and not be bystanders in life, but maybe they could find happiness, or even love…(Eli: Warriors for the Light, Book I) What if other Watchers didn't want things to change? (Lucca: Warriors for the Light, Book II)
Another question I like to play with is: If only… If only the heroine could travel back in time and change the hero's destiny. (Lost in the Mist of Time) If only a curse could be broken if the hero could find his soul mate. (Magic of the Loch) If only the heroine could raise the dead and find out who killed him. (Soul Taker) If only…
My ideas aren't always a plot notion. Sometimes it's about a person, a myth, or a place like the idea of a museum of cursed objects. What if only a cursed person or shifter could protect those objects from getting into the wrong hands? What if he was cursed too? (The Gryphon & His Thief) Or what if vampires and humans once lived among each other. What if the human society sacrificed one woman to the vampire clan in exchange for protection from a bigger threat? (Twilight's Eternal Embrace) What if it were possible for time travelers to use the elements of the weather to time travel and fix time rifts and destinies? (Storm Riders) What if the Loch Ness Monster wasn't just a myth but a cursed soul destined to guard the loch and its secrets? (Magic of the Loch).
All fiction is imagining the possibilities and how to make it a convincing tale with characters you love or hate, or maybe a little of both. Believe me sometimes what I've imagined in my head doesn't always translate into a story once I start writing. Sometimes I just jot down ideas, or I may write a few paragraphs and save it for later. Sometimes those few lines spark another story entirely.
So where do I get my ideas? I just make them up…in my head. Lol
And what a head full of ideas, Karen! You can find out more about Karen Michelle Nutt's books on her website. Be sure to buy a book and tell a friend. Happy reading!