by Jo Robertson
But often there’s a kernel of an idea, the budding seed of a character or plot or setting that speaks to your imagination.
My idea for the serial killer that inhabits Kate Myers and Ben Slater’s lives in my debut book THE WATCHER came from an abnormal psychology class I took. Great ideas in psych classes, by the way. I don’t want to spoil the journey into the killer’s dark mind, however, so I’ll just say that the concept of his pathology, what drives him to kill a certain type of person, is based on the true case of a person like my killer, whom I’ve named John Smith. I love the benign, or
dinary sound of his name. In the actual psychology case, the patient wasn’t a murderer, however, but his uniqueness made me ask questions: how would a person like this feel growing up? How would he handle changes in his life? What kind of family dynamic might torture him further?
Thus, my antagonist sprang to life in my mind.
Slater, my hero, came more slowly, but I knew I wanted him to be a man of honor, foremost (he’s a deputy sheriff in a small town) and suspicious of women second because of a great tragedy in his life.
While I was teaching high school, I took a lot of random classes at the local university
, primarily to move myself up on the pay scale, but also because I love learning. drama classes, math, English. Finally, I settled into psychology and criminal justice. Every story or experience related by my teachers opened my mind to the possibility of more ideas, all based on WHAT IF?
How about you, readers? How do you stimulate your creative juices? Whether it’s art, music, writing, scrapbooking, or handwork, what motivates you to indulge in your passion? What do you do for fun and entertainment? Any out-of-the-box kinds of hobbyists out there?
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