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Guest Blogger Lynda K Scott


First I want to say thanks to Linda Wisdom and the Casablanca authors for letting me guest here. It’s a real treat to be among so many authors whose books I’ve loved!


Long, long ago, I took a college level creative writing class. The instructor, Professor Larry Pike, was more a poet than a fiction writer but he had an excellent grasp on how to develop a story and what tools the writer needed in his/her arsenal. I enjoyed the class so much, that I took the next level course the following semester. Unfortunately, Professor Pike had succumbed to cancer and was replaced by one of his former students whose main claim to fame was that he was a Professor of Industrial Management at another local university. He didn't want us to write science fiction. He didn't want us to write romance. He didn't want us to write fantasy. To be honest, I'm not sure what he wanted us to do unless it was to bask in his glory.

This fellow seemed to think that we couldn't come up with our own ideas so he spent inordinate amounts of time giving us 'imaginative' items to create stories around. That approach might be necessary for first year creative writing students but it didn't do a thing for me.

Ideas are one thing I've never lacked. Big ideas, little ideas, tiny tidbits that worm their way into plots I'm already working on...they hit me like the salvo from a battle cruiser.

My novel, Heartstone, arose from the idea of colony insects but I morphed it one step (okay, a couple of steps) further. Instead of a colony or hive mentality, I gave the villainous alien life form a single mind. Lots of bodies, yeah, but all controlled by one mind.

My second novel, Altered Destiny (which began life as a multi-contest winner titled Devil’s Choice) was predicated on the idea that major, world changing decisions could create alternate worlds. Okay, that's been done a few times but my twist involves the elf-like, alien Qui'arel whose science is based on belief.

The third novel, Rider, involves a sentient nanobic life form that lives as a symbiotic parasite on its host.

A fourth novel I’m working on is Sunstone, a sequel to Heartstone, where one of those alien bodies managed to survive the first battle, by hiding in an animal.

Then there's my short fiction--a disabled man who lives in computer generated worlds and whose job is to act as both an escort for and counselor to normal humans who rely more heavily on those worlds than the reality they live in; explorers investigating a planet revolving around a binary star system; a cleaning lady who is jolted into a bubble universe with a handsome scientist; a woman warrior who is brought back from death by an evil sorceress...you get the picture.

Ideas are not a scarcity around here.

I've been asked where my ideas come from? A lot, I admit, come from reading Scientific American or watching the Discovery channel (I have a passion for the science shows), some come from dreams (the cleaning lady gets bopped into the bubbleverse by a dust bunny--don't laugh, the ones in my house could probably transport us all into a different universe!), some just show up knocking on my mental door with a big cheesy grin and a 'Hi, wouldn't it be cool if--'

Nope, ideas are not a scarcity.

If you're a member of my newsgroup OR if you join my newsgroup you can have your name entered in a special Grand Prize drawing for my soon-to-be released book, Heartstone. The prizes? A free e-copy of Heartstone, a LED Ear Light (so cool! A book light that fits on your ear!), a 6-in-1 Mini Desk Tool and a lovely ‘Heartstone’ necklace.

You can find all the details at http://www.lyndakscott.com/news.html

Comments

  1. You're always such a gracious host on your site, Lynda! Thanks for having us, and good luck with your books. They sound great!

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  2. How wonderful to have you here, Lynda! Your books sound great, and your story about your creative writing teachers was interesting! I'm glad that you persevered and you're writing books (and contributing to a fabulous blog!) today :)

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  3. Good morning, Terry & Danielle! It's so great being here with you all :-)

    Danielle, I stole, er, borrowed the motto 'Never give up, Never surrender' from Galaxy Quest. It's very appropriate for writers :-)

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  4. Oh, I wanted to give the direct url for my contest so you can see the details. It's
    http://lyndakscott.blogspot.com/2010/05/heartstone-grand-prize-drawing.html

    Hope to see you there!

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  5. I love your imagination, Lynda. Fabulous!

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  6. Yay Lynda!

    And people, Rider definitely needs a home since it's wonderful! Actually, all of Lynda's books are fantastic.

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  7. Lynda, as I'm reading your blog post I'm thinking, wow! There is no way my brain would be able to wrap around all that technical, sci-fi stuff. I blame my grandma. She's an anomaly. When most grandmother's doted on their grandchildren, mine doted on her Star Trek collection. I kid you not. This woman was the president of some sort of Star Trek organization. A die-hard Trekky. She had everthing Star Trek known to human. I'm not sure why, but I learned to shut out anything sci-fi. Now, I wished I would have embraced it a little more, because there is some cool stuff out there.

    The new site looks great.

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  8. Kathryne, lol, talk about imagination! You Casablanca ladies have great imaginations:-)

    Ah, Renee! I love your grandmother! LOL But I can see how that could affect an impressionable young mind :-) And it's never too late to feed an interest in any subject you're interested in. Have at it! :-)

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  9. Hi, Linda! Thanks for the kind words :-) You're a sweetie (I'll put the check in the mail tomorrow, lol, just kidding!)

    I have to admit Rider is one of my favorites too :-)

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  10. Great post! Ideas aren't my problem either. LOL! I stopped by your new website and its beautiful! Congrats! Looking forward to your book's release!

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  11. I love how you combine science and romance so well Lynda! It's a great joy to read your books.

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  12. Hi Pauline! Thanks re the website and my release :-) I suspect for writers, there are more ideas that we'll never have time to write than a having dearth of ideas :-)

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  13. Stephanie, thanks so much!I've always loved science and science fiction. To be able to combine SF with romance is just a dream!

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  14. Welcome Lynda!

    I am chiming in a day late, sorry. I hate my working shifts in the "Real World" as I have no time to check in at the blog!

    Ideas are a weird thing. I am sure we all get asked the question of where it comes from. Some ideas I can pinpoint as to where I read something that sparked the idea. But usually it seems to plop into my head from some other dimension or something! IE - I have no clue.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences and stories with us.

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  15. LOVE your site, Lynda! Your books sound fascinating and unique --- my kind of stories! I have added them to my TBB list!

    Enjoyed your Blog post, too!

    Wishing you great Sales,
    hugs, Kari Thomas, www.authorkari.com

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