Where to Start

How do you start a story? Where do you get your ideas?

As an author, that is a question I get asked again and again. And I’ve narrowed it down to one answer. An answer that is a question in itself.

I ask, “What if?”

Does that seem to easy?

Maybe it is, but it’s the way most of my ideas start. For instance, “What if two sisters who didn’t get along were forced to spend a whole summer together?” That’s where my latest novel started. Now it lives as Faith and Hope. “What if two people falling in love found out their parents used to date in high school?” That’s where my first novel, An Unexpected Legacy came from. My novel coming out next year came from “What if a woman moving home again showed up with a baby she wanted to adopt even though she’s not married?”

There’s so many different ways things could go from those questions, but it’s a great way to start. So, if ever you need an idea to get your wheels turning, try asking “What if?”

Let’s give it a test run together. Here’s a what if question. You throw out ideas on where you might take the story from there. I’ll add my own in the comments.

What if a stranger sat down beside you in a church service and handed you an urgent note that they needed you to pretend to be their girlfriend?

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Amy R Anguish, author of An Unexpected Legacy, grew up a preacher’s kid, and in spite of having lived in seven different states that are all south of the Mason Dixon line, she is not a football fan. Currently, she resides in Tennessee with her husband, daughter, and son, and usually a bossy cat or two. Amy has an English degree from Freed-Hardeman University that she intends to use to glorify God, and she wants her stories to show that while Christians face real struggles, it can still work out for good.

Check out her new book, Faith & Hope, available now.

Her new book, Saving Grace, releases September 2020.

Follow her at http://abitofanguish.weebly.com or http://www.facebook.com/amyanguishauthor