Morton Gray - Ideas from all over the place!

Today I am delighted to welcome Morton Gray to the blog to talk about where her ideas come from. Thank you Morton, for this eclectic mix!

Ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. I’ve learned over the years that I can’t force or manufacture them, I almost have to wait for them to find me.

Heidi asked me to talk about a trip I’ve taken that inspired ideas, but I’m going to cheat and talk about several different sources. Shhhh don’t tell her…

Surprisingly, the place I’m most likely to find ideas is in the shower! I think I’ve had more ideas come to me there than anywhere – it’s my own personal Tardis.

The second most likely place for ideas to lurk is in coffee shops. I write here most often, when I’m working on a first drafts. Ideas can come from overheard conversations, or just appear as I’m sipping my skinny flat white.

Sometimes I feel quite naughty when scribbling down an idea. I once copied down almost verbatim a telephone conversation I heard in an airport lounge. The man was arguing with a relative about his father’s will and was shouting into his mobile, so it was impossible not to overhear. I would never use it verbatim you understand, but the snippet might be useful for something in the future. A bit like the pictures from magazines and the family history articles I salt away for possible use.

Memorial benches can be good for evoking ideas and names. I have been known to sit quietly on a bench after reading the inscription and allow a story to form in my mind. One particular bench at Witley Court in Worcestershire, a ruined stately home run by English Heritage, was the catalyst for the whole of the novel, currently untitled, that will be published by Choc Lit in 2018. The story has now changed a lot since the first draft, but it began on that bench at Witley.

I think I can safely say, that ideas appear everywhere I go, I have far more ideas already than I can ever use for novels. My debut novel The Girl on the Beach was inspired by an art competition at my son’s school, combined with two newspaper articles I read days apart.

“The Girl on the Beach” by Morton S. Gray

Who is Harry Dixon?

When Ellie Golden meets Harry Dixon, she can’t help but feel she recognises him from somewhere. But when she finally realises who he is, she can’t believe it – because the man she met on the beach all those years before wasn’t called Harry Dixon. And, what’s more, that man is dead.

For a woman trying to outrun her troubled past and protect her son, Harry’s presence is deeply unsettling – and even more disconcerting than coming face to face with a dead man, is the fact that Harry seems to have no recollection of ever having met Ellie before. At least that’s what he says …

But perhaps Harry isn’t the person Ellie should be worried about. Because there’s a far more dangerous figure from the past lurking just outside of the new life she has built for herself, biding his time, just waiting to strike.

Biography 

Morton lives with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K.

She has been reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first attempt at a novel aged fourteen. As with many authors, life got in the way of writing for many years until she won a short story competition in 2006 and the spark was well and truly reignited.

She studied creative writing with the Open College of the Arts and joined the Romantic Novelists’ New Writers’ Scheme in 2012.

After shortlisting in several first chapter competitions, she won The Choc Lit Publishing Search for a Star competition in 2016 with her contemporary romantic suspense novel The Girl on the Beach.

Previous 'incarnations' were in committee services, staff development and training. Morton has a Business Studies degree and is a fully qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina Acupressure Massage and Energy Field Therapy.

She enjoys crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.

Website - www.mortonsgray.com

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MortonSGray

Facebook Page – Morton S. Gray Author - https://www.facebook.com/mortonsgray/

“The Girl on the Beach” at http://www.choc-lit.com/dd-product/the-girl-on-the-beach/