As I get to know more writers I may give them an opportunity to guest-post on my blog from time to time. Our “lead-off batter” is Mikey Brooks, illustrator and author, who just released his middle-grade fantasy/adventure novel, “The Dream Keeper.” I asked him to post about where he gets his ideas. Take it away, Mikey!
Mikey Brooks
Inspiration for a story can come from the most unlikely of places. Mostly with my picture books the ideas come from my kids. They will do something that I think is funny or say something that I misunderstand. For example my daughter wanted to read the book Princess and the Hog—she said frog, but I heard Hog. Trigger book idea: a story about a Princess who gets turned into a pig for being messy. Another time she was in the living room playing with her imaginary friends. I asked what they looked like and she told me they were dragons. Trigger book idea: a story about a little girl and her imaginary dragons.
The idea for THE DREAM KEEPER came when I really didn’t want it. It was late at night and I had to be up the next morning at 4am. I turned over and looked at the clock and it was ten after eleven.
The Dream Keeper
I moaned to my wife and she said, “Just wait and it will be 11:11—wishing minute.” I waited and wished to fall asleep. I remember thinking that it would be cool if there was someone in charge of escorting our minds to dreams. Trigger book idea: a story about a dream world where there are keepers responsible for escorting mortals to and from Dreams. When an idea pops into my head, that I love, it’s hard to put down. Let me just tell you I didn’t get to sleep that night and neither did my wife. I had to brainstorm a plot.
So be ever open to inspiration because you never know when it’s about to strike.
I am excited to announce the release of my middle-grade fantasy THE DREAM KEEPER. It is an action-packed adventure with a toe in both the real world and the fantastic. When an evil shifter takes over the gateway to the realm of Dreams, it falls to 14-year-olds Parker and Kaelyn to stop him. Their only hope lies with Gladamyr, the Dream Keeper, but can they trust a Nightmare to save their world?
“Dreams: Dorothy called it Oz, Alice called it Wonderland, but Nightmares call it HOME.”
Mikey Brooks is a small child masquerading as adult. On occasion you’ll find him dancing the funky chicken, singing like a banshee, and pretending to have never grown up. He is the author/illustrator of several books including BEAN’S DRAGONS, the ABC ADVENTURES series, and author of the middle-grade fantasy-adventure novel, THE DREAM KEEPER. He spends most of his time playing with his daughters and working as a freelance illustrator. Mikey has a BS degree in Creative Writing from Utah State University. He is also one of the hosts of the Authors’ Think Tank Podcast.