I've continued following Kelly Link's blog tour (Gwenda is updating the links) and found yesterday's entry about writing and things that interest her to be particularly interesting. (One of the coolest things about this tour is that Kelly is not just answering questions about her last book. She has written at length about her daughter and then about books and movies she likes and now about places/things that spark her creativity. This is the kind of posting that blogs were made for.) Here's a bit of what Kelly wrote:

Perhaps you're a writer who already has a very good well of story ideas. But if, like me, you sometimes run dry, here's an exercise for generating story ideas that I hope fits well with Kate Wilhelm's advice. What I decided to do was to sit down and, very quickly, make a list of things that I most liked in other people's fiction -- these could be thematic, character driven, very general or very specific. I found that when I started this list, it began to incorporate ideas and items which I was inventing as I went along.

I love this, because I have a continuously evolving list of things that fascinate me and they certainly infuse my writing. I am not interested in Alaska so much (which is surprising considering how much I've written about it) but I do like reading and writing about people who go far away...which is partly what appeals about AK. There are many other things that I like though and taking a page from Kelly (who I share some interests with) here are a few:

Old Florida - Florida is by far one of the most interesting places in the world. It has everything from bright shiny towers to dense impenetrable swamps. We've got forests and we've got beaches. We've got rockets and amusement parks and Zora Neale Hurston and Travis McGee. When I say "Old Florida" it's mostly early to mid-20th century FL before Disney World and condos and Spring Break. I like to think about traveling carnivals and orange groves and empty beaches with falling piers and old hotels and sleepy libraries and the cemeteries that are hidden away off the side of road and largely forgotten. Florida is - bizarrely - the land of Mickey Mouse and lonesome train whistles. So much of the state is haunted; it is far more gothic then I think most folks realize.

Saints - I grew up with St Christopher who my father wore until the very end of his life. I am endlessly intrigued by Joan of Arc (how can you not be?) and then there is St Catherine and Rita and Regina and on and on. The saints are an endless supply of inspiration for anyone, whether you believe in their stories or not.

Travelers - Especially of the late 19th century, Mary Kingsley-ish kind, or early twentieth century polar kind, or early mountain climbing kind, etc etc. (Do see Barbara Hodgson's two fabulous books on female travelers - great stuff!)
Scrapbooks and journals and diaries - how can anyone resist these books? Completely addictive in the best possible way. (See Scrapbooks: An American History - WONDERFUL!)

And what else? Lost lakes or trails or abandoned towns. Graves without tombstones and forgotten cemeteries. Like Kelly I love books within a book, and old unsolved mysteries and attics or basements full of things. (I did garage sales for other people for awhile and loved every second of it - you wouldn't believe the stuff you find!) I also like old theme park rides and Cypress Hammocks (it's a southern thing) and family histories - the more convoluted the better and hurricane histories and old postcards from antique shops of places I've never been.

I like the way Kelly ended her list - with the best idea ever:

One last category of ideas, to end on: those ideas which are fabulous, but which you may not be the best writer to tackle, or which are too complicated to pursue for other reasons. For example, I've never written a script. I have lots of other things I need and want to be working on. And yet, wouldn't it be a blast to remake the movie "Bringing Up Baby" as a paranormal romance? I keep having this vision of the scene in which Cary Grant's character is wearing Katherine Hepburn's negligee. Doesn't the reason why seem obvious? He's just turned back from were-leopard into Cary Grant.

I would totally pay to see that movie!

[Bottom pic from author Jessica Hefland's Daily Scrapbook site.]