A few days ago, my wife was on the phone with a good friend of ours from the East Coast. It seems at one point the subject of my upcoming book release for Utopia’s Edge came up in their chat. At one point, her friend asked, “Where do his ideas for stories come from?”
Well, often my answer would depend on the type of story she was asking about. But since much of my recent work is what might be called Speculative Fiction (Spec-Fic), I knew exactly where it comes from. It starts with something out of the ordinary in the current news - maybe some catastrophe, or pandemic, or maybe the ongoing nightmare of politics and the like.
Often, these days, there are too many ideas that come rushing at me out of the current news. As an example, the ongoing national argument about climate change. Is it real? Did humans cause it? Can we stop it? Should we accept it as a cyclical event and just hang on for the ride? The fact is, for the writer in me, none of these questions matter. The only question I ask myself to get the magic of Speculative Possibility thinking rolling is this: What if. . .?
Take the recent example of the summer of 2023. Most of the United States experienced deadly heat conditions and droughts. Phoenix had more than a month of temperatures over 110 degrees F. During this period, lakes, major rivers and reservoirs nearly dried up. So, I might ask “What if this is the new “normal” weather pattern? What if we have to learn to thrive in a world where water, an already precious commodity, becomes the new “gold” standard? Then the work begins.
First, I need to understand what such a climate change might cause for humans. That sounds easy, but to do it right requires a bunch of research. How long would you be able to last on a severely restricted supply of water, for instance? Throughout this process, ideas will start to gel, giving me a pretty good idea of where the story might take us.
Finally, the magic of Imagination usually takes hold, and one or two central themes come together that form the basis for the story. I don’t mean to minimize the actual process - which takes an incredible amount of research, trial and error, and false starts. But once Imagination (capitalized intentionally) kicks in, the energy follows and the story takes control. Not simple, but always exciting.
