Urban inspiration, or how did that story start?

Like many writers, I can't tell you where the inspiration for a particular story comes from. All I know is that one day a sentence or, less frequently, a title appears in my head. And from that single sentence or title, the whole novel or story arrives fullblown as if from the head of Zeus.

I know that sounds a bit fanciful, but it's true. I have no freakin' idea where it all comes from. Truly.

But what I can tell you is that a whole heck of a lot of those sentences or titles comes from walking around the city and on the beach and through Stanley Park. Maybe not quite all of them, but most of them for sure.

So I can show you a little bit of what inspires me and where particular stories came from. DRAGONFLIES AND DINOSAURS was my first published novel and I can remember exactly where it happened. It was a rainy fall day and I was walking on the Seawall - right about here...

And I started counting great blue herons just like this one (though those of you who read the book might be wondering... the herons turned into red-tailed hawks in the book - again, who knows why things happen?)...

The tide was out and there are always more of them around when the tide's out. They're standing so gracefully in the water waiting for a frog or a fish to move. They'll stand still like that for hours and if you're not patient, you won't see them move at all.

Walking to work one morning, I saw a shape on the sidewalk. It was a cracked heart somehow embedded in the pavement. That became the inspiration for a story - Castle of the Heart. Another morning, I spotted some graffiti and it became the title of a story and a collection of stories - Naked for Jesus. I'm still wondering about that one - what was the graffiti artist thinking about? Didn't matter - turned into a great story for me.

This little raccoon - yes, there are plenty of raccoons in the neighborhood - along with his coyote and skunk pals inspired me to put a forest in my latest novella, THE DEMON NEXT DOOR. The forest (and a grizzly bear) play a big part in the story.

There's always something to see in the city, always something to take your attention away from the mundane and the practical, always something that seems so fantastic it can't possibly be real.

If I were a true romance writer, this boat on this day would inspire me to write a romance - but not your traditional one with the Greek tycoon and his child's young nanny. Nope, my romance would be about the guy who cleans these boats waiting for his big break as a cellist. And she, she would be a lonely, sad woman who walks by the boat and falls in love with its beauty. Not at all your traditional romance, I'm afraid, because he never does become a world famous cellist and she just works in an office, but they fall in love and live happily ever after.

What about you? What inspires you?

Kate