Inspiration for writing ideas comes
from a whole variety of different sources and that's not just for
fiction. When I'm not writing fiction, I'm busy writing articles for
magazines, but keeping up a steady flow of non-fiction often taxes
the old brain cells to seek out inspirational ideas that I can turn
into saleable magazine articles.
The cute Ashleigh and Pudsey off
Britain's Got Talent provided the inspiration to enquire with
a certain canine magazine that I've written for for many years, to
see whether they would like an article that informs dog owners what's
entailed if they want to teach their dog these kinds of moves. This happily resulted in being
commissioned to write the article.
Writing doggy features is probably my
favourite form of non-fiction articles and over the years I've been
so fortunate in meeting dogs that do amazing things, from detecting
arms, drugs and explosives to iconic dogs renowned for rescuing; and
those providing a tremendous quality of life to less able people –
and then there are those who simply bring joy to their owners and
those around them.
Very often non-fiction research will
re-emerge in a fictional story too. About five years ago I went on a
press trip to the Champagne region in France and had a fantastic
three or four days visiting the Champagne houses, the cellars and the
vineyards – not to mention trying out a big selection of different
champagnes and some posh nosh to go with it. (I know it's a dirty job
but someone had to do it!) Anyway, subsequent articles were written
and published, and all those wonderful memories were filed away for
possible future use.
That research was called on again
fairly recently when I had the urge to write another romance. I'd
written A Tropical Affair for My Weekly Pocket Libraries which
was based on a tropical island, which I hadn't personally visited
(shame); but when looking to follow this up and trying to think of a
new story I was reminded of the wonderful setting of the champagne
region. A rich, handsome champagne millionaire would make the perfect
hero. As for the heroine, well why not a feature writer on a
mission? 
The subsequent book Champagne
Harvest came out at a People's Friend Pocket Novel (under my maiden name) just
last week and reading through it, (even though I'd written it) it was
great to hear my hero quoting phrases that various champagne growers
had made on my visit. I was able to take the best bits of my research
and create this lovely fictional world that was, in a way, very real.
I wonder how other writers weave real
life events into their work, and does fiction and non-fiction
sometimes work together to produce something new?
Doggy and champagne pics courtesy of Rob Tysall www.tysallsphotography.org.uk
Out of focus book cover pic by me!!
Please take a look at my website: www.annevansbooks.co.uk
2 comments:
Lovely post, Ann. I think one of the best things about being a writer is being able to use information and research in lots of different ways like this. I'm sure it must have been tough having to drink all that champagne but a writer's got to do what a writer's got to do!x
Nice champagne magazine.
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