The Idea Factory As a writer of horror and science fiction, one of the first questions I inevitably get asked, either in interviews or by people I meet, is "Where do you get your ideas?" Now, better writers than I (Stephen King, Brian Keene) have delivered hilarious and sharply-pointed responses in print, because on the surface it seems like a foolish question, or at least one with no thought behind it: Where do I get my ideas? From my brain, of course! Where else? But I was taught in college that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. And to brush aside this question just because it seems obvious would be stupid. After all, a person wouldn't ask if they didn't know, right? Writers forget that not everyone else is a writer. They don't have the same types of imaginations, the same thought processes, the same fanatical drive, that we do. They don't spring up from the couch or snap awake at night or nearly ...
