Ask any author how they come up with their ideas, and the reflexive response is likely to be, “It just comes to me.” That’s not helpful, however, if you’re having to ask yourself that question because your idea-well has temporarily run dry. It can easily happen at the start of a new year when you’ve made the decision to begin something new, or write a sequel to last year’s novel, or you just want to enter a writing competition. Often our brains are terrible teases, serving up numerous ideas that are completely “wrong” in the moment – wrong genre, wrong book series, wrong historical period, wrong age group... Discovering how your mind works, how the spark of a story begins to flicker into existence for you, will allow you to light the flames of your creativity whenever you like, and fan them in the direction you need them to go. Browse through the 24 sources of inspiration listed below and see which of these resonate with you, and whether there are a few unexpected options you’d like