Where Did That Come From? by Wendy H. Jones

Where Did That Come From?

by Wendy H. Jones

As it’s a fresh new season – spring has sprung and there are signs of new hope and new growth – I thought I would give you some fresh insight into the mind of a writer. What on earth makes us tick and where do our crazy ideas come from? So, prepare for a whistle-stop tour inside the mind of a writer.

Let’s start with someone everyone will know – Ernest Hemmingway. It is obvious from his books that Hemmingway absorbed inspiration from both his travels and life itself. His writing is a pastiche, not of other writers, but of his life and the circumstances in which he found himself. His travels took him all over the world – Paris, Toronto, Chicago, Spain, Cuba, Key West, and The Caribbean. His books are reflective of this as he absorbed the passion and intrigue that went on around him allowing him to shape the words he wrote. He also bought houses in several places and the one in Key West can still be visited today. An interesting fact is that Hemmingway had a white cat named Snow White which had six toes. The Ernest Hemmingway Home and Museum houses 40-50 six toed cats and they are thought to be descendants of Hemmingway’s original cat. I have visited and I can report the cats are free to roam at will. Anywhere. My next author, or authors, are Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte. The sisters were raised and lived in the village of Haworth in Yorkshire where their father was the parson. Charlotte, of course, wrote Jane Eyre, whilst Emily’s most famous, in fact only, novel is Wuthering Heights. Living on the Yorkshire Moors the sisters drew inspiration from the wild and majestic landscape which surrounded them. Wuthering Heights also drew on elements of romanticism and the gothic tradition, allowing its author to pen a book which is still considered a masterpiece to this day. However, did you know that she initially used the pseudonym Ellis Bell to send her novels to publishers. This was so they would not know she was a woman.

They say there have only been six books ever written and every other author writes their own version of those. Stephen King, one of the most wellknown contemporary horror writers certainly comes up with innovative ideas. Yet, it is said that he came up with the idea for the book It from reading Three Billy Goats Gruff. What? How did a simple fairy (or folk) tale turn into the classic of horror fiction that is It? As well as writing horror, King has also written fantasy after reading The Lord of the Rings. His

books are also set locally in Maine, where lives, another example of inspiration being drawn from location. All I can say is I will be extremely careful if I ever visit Maine.

Closer to home, Mary Shelley - the author of Frankenstein - started writing that novel during a ten month stay with the Baxter family of Dundee, Scotland. She has famously said that sitting under a tree on the Baxter estate, her imagination could fly free and her ability to write soared. I’m struggling to see how she went from beautiful countryside and lazy days uner a tree lead to Frankenstein but I’m jolly glad it did. Let’s hear it for Dundee.

So, to me. I am the author Wendy H. Jones and I write books set in Dundee. See, I told you there was a link. Where I get my inspiration is a trifle worrying as one of my series, The Detective Inspector Shona McKenzie Mysteries, is about serial killers. Do I draw my inspiration from my location - yes and no. Dundee is actually the murder capital of Scotland. Now, before you start worrying, that is per capita, and we don’t have that many murders. And we have not had a single serial killer. However, we do have old wynds, closes and tenement buildings which lend themselves beautifully to furtive fleeing figures and deadly deeds. I also write humorous mysteries – Cass Claymore Investigates - which are tongue in cheek and draw inspiration from the Scots ability to not take themselves too seriously. My young adult books – The Fergus and Flora Mysteries – although contemporary, draw inspiration from real life historical events. Finally, my Bertie The Buffalo picture book series is based on the story of a baby water buffalo that went missing from a Buffalo Farm in Scotland. I kid you not.

So, I am sure you will agree that writers can get inspiration from anywhere, everywhere and everyone. We see something ordinary, store it in our mind, and at a later date it will emerge as something extraordinary - a fully formed novel. I have a tshirt that says, “Anything you say may be taken down and used in a book.” It’s true. You never know where a writer is lurking and what they might be plotting. I truly hope you have enjoyed this little trip inside the mind of a writer.

Wendy H. Jones is the award winning, international best-selling author of the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries, Cass Claymore Investigates Mysteries, Fergus and Flora Mysteries, Bertie the Buffalo children’s books and the Writing Matters books for writers. She is also a writing and marketing coach and the President of the Scottish Association of Writers. As copy editor for Mom’s, she works hard to ensure content is appropriate and free of grammatical and spelling errors. You can learn more about Wendy on her website: https://www.wendyhjones.com/

Contributions by Hannah Howe

Why did Cinderella get kicked off the baseball team? Because she ran away from the ball!

How is baseball similar to a pancake? They both need a good batter. Golfer: Do you think my game is improving? Caddy: Yes, sir. You miss the ball much closer now.

What position does a ghost play in soccer? Ghoulie

The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize you're not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back.

What’s brown, hard and long and very bad for your dental health? A swinging baseball bat. My wrestler friend had triplets recently. She named her children ‘Niagara’, ‘Victoria’ and ‘The Hunt for the Red October’. In other words, two falls and one sub mission.

I'm not good at sports, but I like parallel parking. Unlike sports, the worse you are at parallel parking, the more people you have rooting for you.