Where do I get my ideas? The stories choose me

I just read somewhere that the question, where do you get your ideas?—is boring. Don’t ask writers that. It’s a no no. Because nobody cares. I guess I’m hopelessly out of the loop because I always ask and I always care. I find the question fascinating because the answers are as different as the books themselves. I’ve concluded that a hundred writers could get the same idea, and the books would all be different. Why? Because the ideas were all slightly different.

The novel that I have just plunged into writing started with the tiniest idea, a wispy, flimsy thing that dropped into my head one night while I was surfing the tv. Here’s the idea: A girl, madly in love with a guy. Planning to marry him. Then the guy ends up murdered. (Did I mention that I write mysteries? Not romances?) Oh, there is a tiny, tiny extra that I can’t mention because if I do, I will give away the whole cotton-picking plot. And that is a real no no.

What’s strange and wonderful about ideas is that, once they grab onto you—drop into your head, I mean, out of nowhere--they don’t let go. Until you write the novel. The idea of this girl grabbed me like pincers. I kept asking, Is that all? Is that all? Not even Faulkner could make a novel out of that. Then I began to see that that was not all. Other pieces started to fill in. Different people arrived to populate the novel, all related to this little idea—which was starting to grow and grow and grow.

I was recently asked in a radio interview how I knew if an idea had the energy to carry me through a whole novel. Good question. I’m not so sure I had a very good answer. I said, I just know, that’s all. So here is this wisp of an idea—a girl in love with a guy, the oldest story idea in the world-- and I just know that it has all the energy in the world to become a novel.

The Arapahos say that there are only so many stories in the universe, and from time to time, the stories allow themselves to be told. And when they do, they choose the story teller.

I second that. The idea for a story drops into your head because—you know what?—you have been chosen to tell that story. And the girl chose me. I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining.

Posted by Margaret

Old Hollywood and the Shoraps (Shoshones & Arapahoes)

I know, I promised to write about my now-in-progress novel, and I will. But I just got the cover for the new Wind River mystery that will be out September 1. And it is fabulous, which I can say because I had nothing to do with it. But here it is—The Silent Spirit.

Father John, after a sabbatical in Rome where I sent him (actually, the Provincial sent him) at the end of The Girl with Braided Hair, is back on the rez, and he and Vicky are back solving another mystery. This one moves between the present and 1920s Hollywood when the Arapahos and Shoshones appeared in several silent Westerns. The plot revolves around the murder of an Arapaho in Hollywood in 1923—totally fictitious, the murder, that is—and the connection to the murder of young Arapaho on the rez in the present—also fictitious.

But the rest is based on history. The first movie that the Shoraps (the two tribes on the rez call themselves that) appeared in was The Covered Wagon. Filmed in the Nevada desert in 1922, the movie was the first Western epic with distant and panoramic scenes and literally a cast of thousands. After the movie was finished, thirty Shoraps went to Hollywood in the spring of 1923 to promote the film by putting on an “Indian show” every night at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater before the film itself was shown. They camped in their tipis on Cahuenga Pass and rode their ponies down into Hollywood about a mile away to go to work.

Researching the novel was the best fun I’ve had in years. I bought and read so many books on old Hollywood that I now have dedicated Hollywood shelves in my bookcases, and Amazon keeps sending me e-mails about the latest Hollywood offerings. They think that’s all I read. Even more fun was going to all the places where the Arapahos were — Cahuenga Pass and imagining them riding their ponies down what is now a freeway; Hollywood Boulevard and Grauman’s Egyptian Theater, and Chinese Theater, too, and placing my hands in the very small prints of old movie stars in the concrete slabs outside the theater (those old stars were tiny people), and lunching at Musso and Frank’s Grill with Charlie Chaplin’s private booth by the door. When Vicky goes to lunch there, she gets to sit in that special booth.

That’s the background for The Silent Spirit. More about the book itself later.

Posted by Margaret

Why "Writer's Bloc?"

Why Writers Bloc? Especially since I don’t believe in Writer’s Block. Whenever I hear Writer’s Block, the image of a crusty old journalism professor from about a hundred years ago pops into my head and I hear him saying (shouting): Writer’s Block? Bull……lony. Get the seat of your pants onto the seat of your chair! The one in front of your typewriter---(that would be computer today.) And you know what? It works. I have years of experience to prove it. Just start writing. Anything. Pretty soon you feel like writing. Pretty soon you might even write something good. But I digress.

So Writers Bloc means a place for writers or just folks interested in what makes writers tick. A place where people have something in common and share common interests and goals—a bloc. What it does not mean is a place for writers to “whine and wine.” No whining wanted here. As for the wine, well, be my guest. What I would like to do is talk about writing—what inspires us, what we do and how we do it, how we grapple with challenges and problems.

Challenges and problems? Yeah, like the one Hemingway mentioned. An interviewer once asked him what his problem had been in writing one of his books, and Hemingway replied: “Getting the words right.” Those kinds of problems.

And everything about the writer’s life which, as my good friend, Lisa Unger, reminds me is a great life. Indeed we are privileged to do what we do.

Also anything you want to say about Books. Books you have loved, books you keep going back to, books that help you as a writer. How-to-books, if you like. But the books that help me the most are books that are damn well written. I read them and see how to do it. I’ll be mentioning some of my favorites as we go and would love to hear about yours.

Since I have just started another Wind River mystery novel—let’s see, that would be novel number sixteen (and I can’t believe that. I’m not that old.)—I will be posting as I make my way through the novel. Step by tedious step. Actually I promise it won’t be tedious. In fact, I will probably write a post after I have figured out one of those getting-the-words-right problems, and after I have pulled out my hair when I can usually look back and even—well, you know—laugh about it.

So any comments you want to make, all you writers and hopeful writers out there, any questions, anything you would like other writers to discuss and enlighten us about, please chime in. I mean, I can’t do this blog all by myself! How boring would that be?

posted by Margaret Coel

Please Comment! Here's how!

Margaret let me know that one of her readers asked - Do you want me to respond? And, if so, how do I do that?

Two answers - YES! And, It's Easy!

She would love it if you commented, please do so if you are so inclined. We are always interested in hearing your thoughts and your questions.

BUT HOW DO I, ALREADY?! At the bottom of every post (these paragraph-like things, like what you're reading here) there is the tiny little word "Comments." See, look down there! There it is! If you click on it (yes, click on "Comments"), you'll get a screen that you can fill in to give us your comments!

To read what everybody else has to say, just click on "Comments", too!

posted by Margaret's daughter, Kristin

Father John Update!! (long awaited : )

Alright, I guilted my Mom and it worked! Here's her report on Father John!

Straight from Margaret:

Okay, so here's the scoop on Father John
At the end of The Girl With Braided Hair, Father John was sent on a sabbatical to Rome. He did not want to go, of course, but being faithful to his vows, as he is, he went.

That prompted a deluge of e-mails from readers along the lines of when is he coming back. Or: Will Father John ever get out of Rome? (Like he was sent to the gulag!)

Two reasons why he went to Rome--1. I wanted to write a stand- alone novel, set in Denver, which turned into Blood Memory (still about the Arapahos.) I wanted to stretch my writerly wings.

2. I wanted to go to Rome.

Of course he had to come back to the Wind River Reservation, because who will solve all the crimes? And Vicky needed him back. And so did I.

So he is back in Silent Spirit, due in bookstores on Sept. 1.
And it was great fun to research and write because of what it is about--check next blog for that.

(I think she means the next "post," but she's still getting the lingo down : )

Seriously, that Father John thing is . . . gonna get here . . . eventually . . .

Well, while we're waiting for this promised update on Father John - which Margaret swears is coming, any day now - I've been thinking of various things that might be of interest to people who love her work. We're definitely getting some clips from different talks she has given - she's a great speaker, if you ever get a chance to attend a speech or book signing. For those of you who may have wandered over here from her website - which is all linked up now! - please feel free to leave some questions or topics that you'd like to know more about. (Down there in the "Comments" section).

We will have posts that are just from Margaret, too. I'm trying to get her up to speed on this blogging thing, though. She writes a book a year, so . . . daily updating is a bit of a new concept. : )

Who is this person?

Hi All! Welcome to Margaret's blog! Or, as she's often called, "Margie", or, as I like to call her, "Mom".

So, yep. I'm her daughter. I love technology, love the internets, love the blogging thing and hence, voila - I'm helping her out with this blog thing!

You'll be able to hear news from her, I'll pass on messages this way, we'll have her schedule, videos of various public appearances, tons of stuff!

If you have any questions for her, you can pass them along here, as well.

Here's her first missive she's asked me to pass along.

She tells me she gets TONS of emails along these lines: WHEN IS FATHER JOHN COMING BACK?!!!!

And she has an answer!

But I don't have the answer yet! As soon as she sends it my way (which she promises will be soon), I will post it here! :)