Ahh…the good old “Where do you get your ideas?” question.
Inspiriation comes from all over. Often things I see. Color magic in WARBREAKER came from watching b/w movies. The mist in mistborn came from driving through a foggy night at 70mph. Sazed came from a Buddhist monk I met in Korea. Sarene came from a friend, Annie, who complained that she was too tall and too smart for men to want to date.
Do you have a “drawer-full” of ideas waiting to be put to paper?
More like a brain-full, but yes. It’s particularly bad now as I had to shelve a number of projects I was working on.
How do you group different ideas into one solid story?
Look for conflict. Take the ideas, and try to make them intersect at points of conflict. Don’t let something happen that isn’t personal and important to at least one of the viewpoint characters. in order to do the WoT. I don’t regret it at all, but those stories keep pounding on the inside of my skull, yelling and begging for me to let them out.
Where can I get good ideas like yours?
It’s different for everyone. From me, history books help a lot. Try a favorite movie, then at a pivotal point, ask what would happen if it had gone the opposite way.
How do you group different ideas into one solid story?
Look for conflict. Take the ideas, and try to make them intersect at points of conflict. Don’t let something happen that isn’t personal and important to at least one of the viewpoint characters.