Hello! My name is Tommy Donbavand, and I'm the author of a brand new series of comedy horror novels – Scream Street – the first four of which will be published by Walker Books in October.
The lovely people at Walker have asked me to write something for the Bear Blog on their fantastic new website - so I thought I'd cover a really big topic and finally reveal, once and for all, an incredible secret that we authors are asked about at every school visit, bookshop signing or library reading. Yes, I'm finally going to give you the answer to the ULTIMATE QUESTION:
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS FROM?
Are you ready for the answer? We authors get our ideas from ... ANYWHERE!
That's a bit of a disappointing answer, isn't it? I bet you were hoping I'd reveal some magical location where great story ideas could be harvested with the minimum of effort. Maybe an orchard of story-apples that can be plucked from their branches and stored in brain-buckets ... Sorry – it just doesn't work like that.
But, the good news is, you really CAN get ideas for stories, plays and novels just about everywhere you look. If you peek out of your window and spot a dog you've never seen before – that could spark off a story. What is the dog's name? Where is he going? Is he trying to get help for his trapped master, or running away from a cruel factory owner who is planning on making dog-flavoured sausages? OK, that's not the best illustration but, if you get used to thinking up stories from everyday events, sooner or later one will stick.
For example: Scream Street. I'd love to tell you that I was once trapped in a haunted house overnight and
the effect it had on me was so traumatic that I have to write about them in order to heal myself. Sadly, the truth is much more boring ...
I run lots of creative writing workshops in schools and, everywhere I go, pupils of all ages seemed to like choosing a haunted house as the setting for their stories. Sure, some children wanted to write under-the-sea escapades or tales of castles and princesses – but the majority wanted to create spooky, scary stories.
One day, as I was driving home from one of these school workshops, I was thinking about haunted houses and how I could update the topic to write a spooky story of my own. I wondered what would happen if there were two haunted houses, side by side. Or even a whole street of haunted houses ... BINGO! Something clicked and I began to get very excited by that idea. A whole street of haunted houses! How cool would that be? I couldn't wait to get home and start working out who would live there, and what adventures they would have (but, you'll be pleased to know, I stayed under the speed limit!)
Once the idea is in place, the rest is just - I'm afraid to say – work. It's fun work, but work all the same. You have to describe your setting, invent new and exciting characters and, best of all, create thrilling plots to give them something to do.
If you're good, I might just tell you how to do that next time ...
Tommy Donbavand
www.screamstreet.co.uk
www.tommydonbavand.com
PS. Deadstock, the world's greatest zombie rock festival, has come to Scream Street! Through a special arrangement with GHOUL (Government Housing Of Unusual Lifeforms), I can now bring you the song 'Zombie Feasting Time' by headlining flesh metal band, Brain Drain. Just click on the link here to hear the song and, if you like it, give it a rating and leave a comment!