Saturday, July 7, 2018

Where Ideas Come From


This is a departure from my normal fare, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless . . .

I have been asked over and over where my ideas come from. I only wish I had a nickel each time the question was asked. In answer, I have to say I subscribe to what Stephen King said.

He wrote: “I get my ideas from everywhere. But what all of my ideas boil down to is seeing maybe one thing, but in a lot of cases it's seeing two things and having them come together in some new and interesting way, and then adding the question 'What if?' 'What if' is always the key question.”

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Most of you reading this know I’m currently a high school principal and former counselor, teacher and coach. This fall marks my 42 year in education and I’ve never really tired of it. Each day is interesting because whatever I had planned flies out the window on most days.

But I happen to blend and somewhat blur the lines of genre in my writing because of my background with kids, especially because of my background in psychology and counseling. If I had to pick my main genre, I’d say crime thriller fiction. But because some of my favorite and more memorable characters are adolescents, I have elements of young adult in my writing.

Basically, my ideas come from kids. I listen to them in hallways, in the cafeteria, sitting in the stands at games. I observe and listen and watch constantly. Robin Williams mentioned in an interview (and I’m paraphrasing, probably badly) that his mind never turned off.

As I writer, neither does mine. Everything I see or hear is fair game!

The first books I wrote, Taking Lives, Stolen Lives, Shattered Lives, and Splintered Lives were based upon my volunteer work with the Jacob Wetterling Foundation for Stranger Abducted and Sexually Exploited Youth. In fact, prequel to the trilogy, Taking Lives, is dedicated to Jacob Wetterling who at age 11 in October of 1989 was abducted at gunpoint in front of his brother, Trevor, and a best friend, Aaron, by a man wearing a mask as they were returning from a convenience store with a rented moving and candy. Jacob’s story is and was tragic and only recently his remains were found after someone confessed to the crime.

I wrote those books because I had wanted to give back, in a way, to tell the story of missing kids. The work is dark- but then again, why wouldn’t it be? The writing deals with the human trafficking of kids, boys. It’s a story many don’t want any part of, perhaps refusing to believe it happens.

But, the writing was based upon my experience with the foundation, with kids I worked with as a counselor and the stories they told me, and of course, a ton of research into the topic of human trafficking.

My newest novel, Caught in a Web, deals with kids dying from overdosing on heroin and fentanyl and MS-13, a vicious gang present in communities across the country.

Once again, as a counselor, I worked with kids and families who had substance issues. In fact, there is one touching and tough scene where a husband and wife deal with the substance abuse of their seemingly All-American son. He had great grades. Was a successful athlete. But that scene works so well because of the conversation I had with the father of that young man.

The gang element again stems from my counseling background. I worked in a school in Southern California that had three active gangs. I was a counselor to a young man who made the decision to “get jumped out” of the gang and he almost didn’t survive.

What I did was exactly what Stephen King stated: I put two elements together, drugs and gangs, and asked the question, ‘What if?’

I think any writer worth his salt is a keen observer of life. His own life, the lives of others. The writer listens to conversations, watches the interactions of others, and reads constantly- especially in the genre in which he or she writes. As King stated, “The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing; one comes to the country of the writer with one's papers and identification pretty much in order.” My belief is that if the writer doesn’t read, the writer never gains the tools needed for writing. Reading is to writing what weight-training is to the athlete. It’s that simple.

So . . . that’s where I get my ideas. Simply stated, from life around me. I take a couple of thoughts and ideas and events and conversations and ask, ‘What if?’

For My Readers:

I have some exciting news:

Black Rose Writing, the company that published Caught in a Web has accepted for publication another of my books, Spiral into Darkness and it will be out in January 2019. On my author page on Facebook, I will post passages and snippets from time to time and keep you updated on the publishing progress.

Caught in a Web, has been receiving some excellent reviews that I’m proud of, but I have to tell you the reviews are also humbling. So to those of you who have read it, thank you for passing on the positive vibes and for taking a chance on a novice writer. With five books to my name and a sixth coming out in January, yes, I still feel like a novice.


If you like Thriller/Suspense fiction and are looking for something to read over the summer and if you are interested in my earlier novels, check out:

The Lives Trilogy Prequel, Taking Lives:
FBI Agent Pete Kelliher and his partner search for the clues behind the bodies of six boys left in various and remote parts of the country. Even though they don’t know one another, the lives of FBI Agent Kelliher and two boys become interwoven with the same thread that Pete Kelliher holds in his hand. The three of them are on a collision course and when that happens, their lives are in jeopardy as each search for a way out. http://bit.ly/Taking-Lives-JLewis                       

Stolen Lives, Book One of the Lives Trilogy:
Two thirteen-year-old boys are abducted off a safe suburban street. Kelliher and his team of FBI agents have 24 hours to find them or they’ll end up like all the others- dead! They have no leads, no clues, and nothing to go on. And the possibility exists that one of his team members might be involved. http://bit.ly/Stolen-Lives-JLewis                     

Shattered Lives, Book Two of the Lives Trilogy:
Six desperate and violent men escape. One of them stands in a kitchen facing a 14 year-old-boy with a gun. There are many reasons for the boy to pull the trigger. Mainly, the man had started it all. http://bit.ly/Shattered-Lives-J-Lewis                      

Splintered Lives, Book Three of the Lives Trilogy:
A 14 year-old-boy is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. High up on an Arizona mesa, he faces three desperate and dangerous men in hopes of saving his father and his brothers. http://bit.ly/Splintered-Lives-J-Lewis

Connect with me on Social Media:

Twitter at @jrlewisauthor


Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Lewis/e/B01FWB9AOI /

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Thank you for your comment. I welcome your thought. Joe