The Question Writers Hate

Does everyone have trouble with this?

No … That’s not the question writers hate.

Where do you get your ideas from?

When writers are interviewed, or if they take questions from an audience, that one seems to come up every time.

That’s the question writers hate.

And, well, all right ...

I don’t know about all other writers, but here are some who’ve said they find it a difficult question.

Among that group you’ll see authors of the Divergent series, the Twilight series and the The Fault in Our Stars. You can find quotes and links here.

Have a look yourself. Search writer interviews. The question of where ideas come from does seem to be there, nearly every time.

If you’ve found some more, can you share the links, please?

Writers are usually able to come up with some kind of answer,

and that’s always pretty fascinating. But it often sounds as if the question has made them think hard.

And …

Is it just me? …

It often sounds as if they aren’t all that happy with their own answers.

Where do you get your ideas from?

The question confuses writers. They seem to feel the answer is obvious, but hard to describe, and also somehow irrelevant to what writing is about.

Maybe you know where your writing ideas come from. Share with us.

So if you hate the question, you are not alone. And one reason writers find it difficult to answer is that there are some problems with the question itself.

Find that in the next post.