What is the most popular question ever asked of any writer?  My nomination would be "where do you get your ideas from?"!  Certainly it is the impression I have had from writer interviews I've read it is one of the top questions ever asked.

I can understand why people ask it but it is a difficult one to answer.  I get my ideas from a combination of sources and if you even try to explain that, all you will see is your questioner's eyes glaze over as they were expecting a quick, pat answer! 

Over time, I have learned to use what is around me to inspire ideas.  For example, in the UK right now, we are well into autumn and I've talked about the changing seasons in my Association of Christian Writers' blog post this month on their More Than Writers page.

In From Light to Dark and Back Again, my flash fiction pieces have been inspired by moments in films, my take on well known books (for example Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde) and also my take on fairytales, my first love when it comes to reading and writing. My characters are nearly always amalgams of character traits, interesting things I've overheard that I've wanted to adapt and put into the mouth of a fictional person, and physical qualities (some good, others less so!). 

So there is no one "go-to" place for ideas, nor should there be, and I guess the only answer to the question is to tell your questioner you get your ideas from many different places.  If they are really keen to know more, you can expand the conversation.  If not, well there's your quick answer and you haven't bored them!  Result!

Writing is one of those things that keeps on giving.  Not only is there the joy of creating your own work (hopefully to be followed by the even greater joy of seeing it published!), but your reading should increase and widen.  Why?  To write well is to read well.  I can't think of any writer who doesn't read.  So in many ways when you become a writer, you become a deeper reader too (in terms of reading more widely and continuing to explore your own love of books anyway).

But one other thing that writing gives is an immediate topic of conversation at writers' conferences and so on.  I have found it incredibly helpful to break the ice with people by asking what they write, have they been published or are they working on it and so on, and before you know it, they are asking the same (and other questions of you and lo and behold you have a conversation going!  This is the way long term writing friendships start.

Then there are the competitions and the thrilll you feel if you are shortlisted or win.  (A little vindication goes a long way for most writers!).  And when going out and about to events such as the recent Hiltingbury Extravaganza, you can talk about why writers group together to help each other, share news of creative writing classes in the area and so on.  So write, have fun, talk about writing, love that too and in all these things, we spread stories, the value of literature of all kinds and so on.  Quite a worthy thing to do really (and if we sell our books too, even better!).

Part of my interview with Gill James on Chandler's Ford Today for this week looks at the issue of censorship, including the self-imposed variety. Is there ever a case for doing this?  I think so - and I recommend a read of the interview so you can see what Gill thinks about it.  Her experience of writing historical fiction is based on writing her book The House on Schellberg Street, which is set in Germany throughout World War Two, so censorship would have been an issue for her characters and something they had to work with.

In many ways, any writer who edits their work (and I would hope that is all of us!) self-censors.  We look at the way we originally wrote a piece, realise we can write it with stronger words and so on and cut out the deadwood.  We deliberately make choices as to what remains.  Also we have to work out what our reader really does need to know about our characters to get the most out of the story.  I can't think of any fiction writer who, preparing biographies for their characters (whether detailed or a simpler outline), puts every single thing into their stories!  They would become top-heavy with information for a start.  As for word count restrictions forget it, you'd never meet them if every single thing you created went into your finished piece.

The important thing, I feel, is whether writing non-fiction or fiction, is to ask yourself if the information is relevant to the reader?  If you left the information out, would the article or story still stand?  If the answer to that is no, then the information goes in and stays in!

In my CFT post tonight, I interview Gill James about her historical fiction and the issue of truthful writing came up as part of our discussions.  Gill made the very good point that sometimes fiction can pull out truths that strict facts cannot and, for me, a great example of this is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, which has made many people think again about what they think they know about Richard III.

Gill's own book, The House on Schellberg Street, examines just what ordinary young German people may have known during Hitler's rise to power and throughout World War Two.  (Many really did not want to be at war with Britain incidentally.  As well as having friends here, well we Brits are often known as Anglo-Saxons and of course the Saxons were from Saxony which is in Germany.  Our history goes back a very long way).

So what then is "honest" writing?  Is it just strict non-fiction based on verifiable fact?  I don't think so.  It is writing which comes from the heart of the author and which conveys an important message (and without preaching.  To Kill a Mockingbird does this superbly. The horror of racism is conveyed brilliantly).   It is the author writing true to their characters regardless of how horrible or nice they are.  It can be the author sticking to their guns at times when it comes to how they want "their people" to be portrayed.