Where I Get My Story Ideas

   There is no single answer for where I get the ideas for my stories.  The original premise for The Aledan came to me while I was listening to my Moody Blues albums back when they were still on vinyl. They are after all known as the “Veteran Cosmic Rockers”.  A number of their songs express the wish to communicate mind to mind to know their lover’s true feelings.  It was not much of a leap to what if thus Hankura and Chelle were born.     

   Journey of the Searching Star started out as a stand-alone called The Horsemen of Demus. That premise began with an old, Uriah Heep song called “Sunrise”:

“But from now till who knows when
My sword will be my pen
And I'll love you, love ya
For all of my time.”

Written by Ken Hensley • Copyright © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

   “Horseman” became part of The Aledan Series so I could expand on Hankura’s and Chelle’s stint with the Explorations as a lead in to Surviving Zevus Mar. The only thing that really changed in the transition was the identities of the space explorers and their interactions with each other.

   Surviving Zevus Mar was kind of a ripped from the headlines going back as far as the Vietnam War and as recent as the Gulf War. War destroys people’s relationships, damages their psyche, and often leaves them both physically and emotionally crippled for the rest of their lives. In Surviving Zevus Mar, Hankura and Chelle et al fight to keep that from happening to them. Add genetically engineered soldiers, plus one that rebels and the way is paved to Psi Factor.

   Psi Factor took on a life of its own as the characters seemed to take over the story as I wrote it.  They resisted being molded into the outline I originally wrote for the story. To me, that’s when writing is great fun.

   I’ve just started on the sequel this week.  I’m off to a slow start because a page or two of my original plot outline is missing.  Basically, just the intro material is missing, so I will probably go ahead with the part of the outline I have and go back to the intro.  When characters take over the story, I often have to go back and rewrite to make the new material fit.

   Other ideas, come from other people’s work.  I’m not talking plagiarism. Sometimes I look at what their work has done with a premise and re imagine it from a different perspective with my own characters and settings.

   So I guess the answer to where I get my story ideas is everywhere.

Chris Myers

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