Big Idea Category
The Big Idea: Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Posted on July 14, 2023 2 Comments
Tea is best enjoyed with friends. So is revenge! Author Kemi Ashing-Giwa brings us a tale of tea, friendship, revenge, and so much more in her new novel, The Splinter in the Sky. KEMI ASHING-GIWA: There wasn’t one singular idea that sparked The Splinter in the Sky; it was more of a situation. For the first […]
The Big Idea: Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle
Posted on July 13, 2023
You start with an old idea, and from this old idea, you can create something new. So Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle learned, as they looked to legends from their heritage for the new novel Ebony Gate. JULIA VEE and KEN BEBELLE: When we started writing what would become Ebony Gate, we took inspiration from […]
The Big Idea: Stephen Aryan
Posted on July 12, 2023 3 Comments
As a child, author Stephen Aryan wanted to see people like him in fantasy books, but rarely did. Now that he writes books himself, he made sure to represent his roots in his new novel, The Judas Blossom. Follow along in his Big Idea to see how this first installment of the trilogy came to […]
The Big Idea: Rachel Cantor
Posted on July 11, 2023 2 Comments
As much as people love the classics, sometimes they need an update. Luckily, author Rachel Cantor is here to bring us a modernized look at the Brontës in her new novel, Half-Life of a Stolen Sister. Follow along in her Big Idea to see how she swapped out the 1800s for the modern era. RACHEL […]
The Big Idea: Gourav Mohanty
Posted on July 7, 2023 3 Comments
Author Gourhav Mohanty is on a mission, one that takes on the heritage of his nation, and his own ambitions for story telling. In this Big Idea, he tells you how he’s combined both for his novel Sons of Darkness. GOURAV MOHANTY: The idea seems simple enough at first glance. Ask any Indian reader, however, […]
The Big Idea: Gregory Lynch, Jr.
Posted on July 6, 2023 3 Comments
The story of The Black Scorpions is a story of wartime and those who served in it, but as co-author Gregory Lynch, Jr. tells us in this Big Idea, it’s also a story of families, of fathers and sons, and of waiting until the right elements have come together to finally tell a tale. GREGORY […]
The Big Idea: Brenda W. Clough
Posted on June 26, 2023 4 Comments
When one is a writer, laziness can be a virtue. Skeptical? Here’s author Brenda W. Clough to explain how laziness was key to creating the story of A Door in His Head. BRENDA W. CLOUGH: The wise writer is efficient because she’s lazy. She puts a lot of work into cooking up a universe, and […]
The Big Idea: Robin C. M. Duncan
Posted on June 23, 2023 6 Comments
How plausible do you need to be in your speculative fiction? It’s a question that interests Robin C.M. Duncan quite a bit, and this Big Idea for The Carborundum Conundrum, one well worth digging into. ROBIN C. M. DUNCAN: How much does realism matter in Science Fiction stories? My second novel, The Carborundum Conundrum (Yes, […]
The Big Idea: Madison Davis
Posted on June 21, 2023
Stories are meant to connect those in our lives to us, even if those stories are about death. Author Madison Davis brings us a Big Idea about connection, community, and grief. Follow along as she tells us what led to the creation of The Loved Ones. MADISON DAVIS: I’ve written about the deaths in my family […]
The Big Idea: Liz Kerin
Posted on June 20, 2023 1 Comment
How much does real life inform a book about dark, magical creatures? As Liz Kerin explains in this Big Idea for her novel Night’s Edge, sometimes, a lot more than you might expect. LIZ KERIN: Full disclosure: I never set out to write a vampire book. But here we are, and it feels right. I […]
The Big Idea: J. R. Dawson
Posted on June 15, 2023 9 Comments
Home is where the heart is. Author J. R. Dawson is going through some big changes, and shares in their Big Idea how the new novel, The First Bright Thing, ties in to what they (and perhaps you) is going through. J. R. DAWSON: A Spark is a very big idea in a very small […]
The Big Idea: Nicole Kornher-Stace
Posted on June 14, 2023 4 Comments
The things we love inspire us. Such is the case in author Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Big Idea, where they talk about a classic childhood favorite that set the groundwork for the idea behind her newest novel, Flight & Anchor. NICOLE KORNHER-STACE: So when I was little, I had this vintage hardbound copy of The Boxcar Children […]
The Big Idea: Pierce Freelon
Posted on June 12, 2023 2 Comments
Author Pierce Freelon shares with us his new children’s book, which sheds some light on going through tough changes in life. Read through his Big Idea to see the inspiration behind Daddy & Me, Side by Side. PIERCE FREELON: My father has a cosmic presence. He passed away after a struggle with a neurodegenerative disease called […]
The Big Idea: CJ Leede
Posted on June 9, 2023 2 Comments
Be the change you want to see in the world. For author CJ Leede, that means creating a villainous, monstrous female character because she didn’t see enough of them in the world. Dive into her Big Idea and see how she crafted a truly bad bitch in her novel Maeve Fly. CJ LEEDE: Can a woman […]
The Big Idea: James L. Sutter
Posted on June 7, 2023
Labels are a tough thing to navigate. It can be hard to know what fits, or if you even want to apply labels to yourself at all. This is something author James L. Sutter has struggled with, and something he explores in his new novel, Darkhearts. JAMES L. SUTTER: You’ve probably never heard of Stuart […]
The Big Idea: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Posted on June 6, 2023 4 Comments
The “rise of AI” is a growing concern for many creators. Award winning author Alaya Dawn Johnson has some unique ideas on this AI problem we all face, and talks in her Big Idea about how our world’s AI compare to the AI in her newest novel, The Library of Broken Worlds. ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON: […]
The Big Idea: Isabella Maldonado
Posted on June 2, 2023 2 Comments
In her Big Idea for her new novel A Killer’s Game, author Isabella Maldonado touches on popular party events, adrenaline, and your long-lost ancestor, Grog. How do they all fit together? Like a puzzle. ISABELLA MALDONADO: The big idea behind A Killer’s Game was the explosion in popularity of escape rooms, which provide the dopamine […]
The Big Idea: Beth Cato
Posted on June 1, 2023 5 Comments
Be warned: In A Thousand Recipes for Revenge, author Beth Cato can get… well, a little cheesy. But, perhaps, not exactly in the way you might expect. BETH CATO: I suppose other people might start work on a novel set in a musketeer-era fantasy world because they want the opportunity to write swashbuckling adventures, rapier […]
The Big Idea: Yukimi Ogawa
Posted on May 26, 2023 3 Comments
It’s a special talent to write in a language that you’ve learned along the way. In this Big Idea for author Yukimi Ogawa’s new collection of short stories, Like Smoke, Like Light, she explains why this choice was an essential one for her. YUKIMI OGAWA: Years ago, somewhere on the internet, I saw someone remark […]
The Big Idea: Jean Marie Ward
Posted on May 25, 2023 4 Comments
Sometimes, it takes more than one try to really nail down a story. In author Jean Marie Ward’s case, the third time was the charm, resulting in her new novel, Siren Bridge. Read on to see how each iteration of this story came together to form this final novel. JEAN MARIE WARD: I stole the first […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying