Where Are Ideas for Novels Birthed?

(Photo of memorial service for Holocaust survivors in Austria)


One of the most common questions I'm asked is how I get the ideas for my novels.

God gave me the idea for my first novel, From Dust and Ashes, while visiting Austria and a historian told me about the true events liberating a concentration camp.

The idea for my second novel, Night Song, came when I was interviewing veterans for my first book, and they told me about the orchestra of prisoners.

The idea for my third novel, Dawn of a Thousand Nights, came when I was interviewing veterans for my second book, and a friend of one of the veterans told me he was a survivor of the Bataan death march--and would I consider writing about them?

The idea from my fourth novel, Arms of Deliverance (Moody, August 2006) also came from research pertaining to my first three books.

And next from Tricia Goyer is an up-and-coming three book series about The Spanish Civil War and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of American volunteers. I was researching for my 4th novel, Arms of Deliverance, when I read an autobiography of a B-17 crewmember who was a veteran of the brigade in the Spanish Civil War. I'd never heard about that war, so I started researching. I was fascinated by the volunteers who would fight for the freedom of the Spanish people.

So you see, there is a trend forming . . . I wonder what I'll discover next?