Rob Houghton wrote: When I write an Enid Blyton story, I actually do very little planning. I don't work to a plan. I find that if I have too detailed a plan it 'kills' the story. I start with an initial idea (for example with 'Narrowboat' I decided on a Famous Five set on a narrowboat which was secretly being used by baddies, and an idea that one of the Five would be accidentally towed away on it). That was all. the rest comes as I write - usually as I'm going to sleep - so I keep a notepad by the bed to scribble ideas on. This is the single most important piece of advice I ever read - in a 'how to write novels' book I once had. Even dreams can sometimes provide inspiration.
I've never been an 'ideas man' - the ideas just appear. If I have to think of things, then usually it takes ages.
Stephen King once wrote in his book "On Writing" that you are only a writer/author if you have more stories to tell than you can possibly write down (or something similar, I don't know the exact wording).
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Ann ... on+writing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Well, I had only this one inspiration to write in the summer of 1996 (partly autobiographical/partly mystery) when I was stuck in a traffic jam in my car in downtown Hamburg, Germany. Ever since I was waiting in vain for another inspiration for a second novel:).
My experience when I wrote my novel was that the characters developed a life of their own. All I had to do on the next morning was reread the last chapter to correct all typos, missing hyphens/commas etc and then basically write down what the characters planned to do next. I know it sounds odd, but that's how it was. I had planned a good outcome as an ending, but many detours to get to it
.
Some 10 years later I read another book by an author on writing (it's also her autobiography, but also contains many tips for amateur writers besides that it's a great read):
https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Privileg ... obiography" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;