Seeking Inspiration – Find The Spark That Ignites Your Story Into Lift Off!

with guest blogger Kate Breslin.


Hello Seekerville, thank you so much inviting me to be a guest blogger today! With a third book release recently under my belt, I thought I’d share with you the ways in which I find that (sometimes elusive) spark of inspiration. For writers, it’s a little how-to, mixed with a bit of interesting history for our readers, and I hope something all can use. 
—Kate 

“Seeking Inspiration – Find The Spark That Ignites Your Story Into Lift Off!”

So, you’re going to write a romance novel. Maybe this is your first endeavor or you’re embarking on the next book for your publisher. So…where to start?

Girl Typing-Circa 1912

As an author of historical romantic fiction, I usually find my story inspiration by reading history books, biographies, or watching BBC. The “spark” for my first novel, For Such A Time, came while reading the Bible’s Book of Esther and realizing that the Jews had been persecuted throughout history. Moved by their suffering, I thought about the most recent atrocity—the Holocaust of WWII—and began to wonder how I might parallel Queen Esther’s love story into a concentration camp setting. 

With Not By Sight, the spark ignited as I watched an episode of Masterpiece Theater’s Downton Abbey. Two WWI suffragettes had crashed Lord Crawley’s Soldier Benefit, handing out white feathers of cowardice to men out of uniform. As I saw the young footman take a feather, knowing he would be shamed into enlisting and the price he would pay, my heart was touched; I began to envision a costume ball, with a suffragette dressed as Pandora giving her white feather of shame to an aristocrat she believed a coward. Pandora would have no idea this Casanova was a British spy on assignment for the Crown, or that her actions would be far-reaching.

In my new novel, High As The Heavens, inspiration struck as I read about the courageous British nurse, Edith Cavell, who was executed by the Germans as a spy for smuggling wounded Allied soldiers out of occupied Belgium during the First World War. That spark led me to read other stories, about brave civilians who secretly worked to resist the Germans behind enemy lines, and the women who risked all to work as real spies for British intelligence. I began to visualize my British nurse, Evelyn, a spy for the Allies in occupied Brussels and the crashed British flyer she would need to rescue in order to save them both.

Once I’ve found that passionate spark and my story ideas begin to flow, it’s time to launch—or in my case, get organized. If you’re a plotter like me, you probably write an outline before you begin the manuscript. (Pansters, I applaud your ability to simply sit down and let the words fly onto the page.  🙂 In truth, there is no right or wrong way, as everyone’s approach to writing is different. Some even use software to organize their work. Here I’d like to share a tried-and-true method that works best for me.  I start with:

A 3-ring binder and dividers with color tabs. I label each tab with headers, like Synopsis, Character List, Maps, Timeline, and Research (and add sub-tabs for specific subject notes I need for my story.)

Kate’s Story Notebook a.k.a. The Brain Binder

Collecting Data. Research can give me the spark AND helps me to plot my story. Before outlining, I read in-depth and surf the Web, Pinterest, YouTube, Google Maps for my setting, and explore other media to help lay out my storyline and theme. My spiritual thread can occur during this discovery process, or later on as I’m writing. I always pray about it and trust that God will show me the message He wants in my story.)

With hard copy resources, I type up notes, including specific page numbers and insert these into the binder. For online research, I investigate relevant websites, cross-checking my facts, and oftentimes download PDF files. (Old tomes that have been digitalized can be great resources!) I then copy and paste the excerpted notes and URL links into a created Word file for each particular subject. The files are then collected into a Word folder with my story’s working title. 

I might create, for example, a file entitled, “Canaries of WWI,” and copy and paste online photos to go in with my notes. As I’m writing the story, it’s great to have at my fingertips the Word file and just a click I can double-check some fact about these canaries who aren’t really birds at all, but women working in WWI munitions plants. Because they were daily exposed to TNT powder, their skin turned a yellowish hue. Hence the nickname “canaries.”

Munitionettes of WWI Canary Women

Once I’ve perused my notes, I can jump right back into my story window and continue writing. The research files can also be printed and kept in the binder, but I leave a copy on my computer for easy use and in case I need them for my next story. Those who don’t outline first might still find these research files helpful for quick fact-checking as you go.

Time to Launch. My outlines are usually very long, from describing brief action segments to writing fully fleshed-out scenes. They’re not carved in stone, either. I want the freedom to be creative, but having a “road map” for my story helps avoid those unforeseen plot snags later on and it keeps me on task. When the outline is complete, I save two copies—one to revise and synopsize later for my editor, and the other I use as my story’s template. I’ve found I like writing the manuscript within the outline document itself, scene by scene, using different colored fonts to distinguish notes from my unfolding story. I delete the extraneous notes as I go, or save them to a clipboard (I have word separation anxiety 🙂) and once my first draft of the book is finished, it’s revise, revise, revise, before sending to my editor for review.

That’s my process. I hope you find some of this helpful. All fiction research can be organized in this way, and any media used to find that spark. I once wrote contemporary romance (unpublished) and still have a folder of collected newspaper and magazine articles. Since truth is usually stranger than fiction, there is no shortage of good story fodder. Like this grab-phrase from the September, 2013, edition of Popular Science: “World War II Combat Pilots Have Been Lost at the Bottom of the Pacific Ocean For Nearly 70 Years. Now Robots Have Been Deployed To Find Them.” Doesn’t that just make your mind start popping with ideas? 

And here’s a headline from our local newspaper dated March of 1999, “Daughter Brands Dad With Scarlet Letter.” Aren’t you immediately intrigued? A teen girl, after reading Nathanial Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, constructed a giant red “A” from plastic pipe and red garland and placed it on the front lawn of her home after her cheating dad abandoned her and her mother. The dad, desperate to remove the scarlet lawn ornament, was prevented from doing so by a restraining order. Sad circumstances, but I couldn’t help smiling over this young woman’s ingenious pluck and the potential for a story. 

The Bottom Line:  Passion is at the heart of inspiration, and it’s that spark that makes us think, shifting our paradigm and introducing us to new ideas and insight—case in point, the girl who read The Scarlet Letter. She was inspired by Hawthorne’s novel to devise a clever and yes, outlandish way to shame her father for what he’d done.

So writers, what spark ignited your most recent story? And readers, what recent books or film most inspired you? 

 One lucky commenter will win a copy of High as the Heavens! Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

High As The Heavens

A British nurse in WWI German-occupied Brussels, Evelyn Marche spends her days at the hospital and her nights working at a café . . . or so it seems. Eve's most carefully guarded secret is that she also spends her nights carrying out dangerous missions as a spy for a Belgian resistance group.

When a plane crashes as she's en route to a rendezvous, Eve is the first to reach the downed plane and is shocked to recognize the badly injured pilot as British RFC Captain Simon Forrester. She risks her life to conceal him from the Germans, but as the secrets between them grow and the danger mounts, can they still hope to make it out of Belgium alive?


"What a thrill ride! Breslin's latest has non-stop action and intrigue set in the fascinating time period of World War I. The characters are detailed and realistic, reflecting emotions that speak to a broad audience in any era. The storyline is intricately plotted and filled with incredible detail that will keep readers engaged and desperate to know what will happen. The romance is tender and the historical events are captivating, making this a book that is not to be missed." 
----RT Book Reviews TOP PICK!

Former bookseller-turned-author Kate Breslin enjoys life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and family. A writer of travel articles and award-winning poetry, Kate received Christian Retailing's 2015 Best Award for First Time Author and her debut novel, For Such A Time, won the 2015 Carol Award for Debut Novel. Kate's third novel, High As The Heavens released June 6, 2017. When she's not writing inspirational fiction, Kate enjoys reading or taking long walks in Washington's beautiful woodlands. She also likes traveling to new places, both within the U.S. and abroad, having toured Greece, Rome, and much of Western Europe. New destinations make for fresh story ideas. Please visit her at www.katebreslin.com

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Good Story Comes from Writing What We Know

with guest Kate Breslin.


Good morning, Seekerville! Thanks to the Seekers for hosting me today on Seekerville. I’ve brought along some freshly baked white chocolate and cranberry scones, and a steaming pot of Earl Grey, so everyone can sit back and relax with a cup while I talk about today’s topic:

Years ago as I began the journey toward publishing my first novel, I attended a writer’s conference near Portland, Oregon. Unlike most conferences held at a Hyatt or Marriot hotel with comfy beds, room service, and five-star restaurants, we budding novelists spent the weekend at a “new age” retreat, much like a Scout camp, with log cabins, bunk beds, and muesli for breakfast. The park like grounds were beautiful however, and it was thought the rustic setting might release our inhibitions and inspire creativity. Among the workshops held at the main lodge was a class entitled, “Write What You Know.” The instructor, a self-proclaimed fencing expert, arrived in her pirate garb brandishing a saber, ready to show us newbies the proper technique an Errol Flynn-styled buccaneer would use to fight on a ship’s deck—thrust, parry riposte, thrust, parry, etc. Anyway, you get the idea. 

In my naiveté, I worried that since my own story idea revolved around a Scottish highway woman and a reformed English duke living in eighteenth-century England, I lacked the skills of horsemanship, swordplay, and firing a blunderbuss shotgun, all required in making my story sound authentic. Nor had I traveled beyond the U.S. How was I supposed to write about England…or even the eighteenth century? My novel would come across vague and juvenile, like seventh-grade Creative Writing class material, while my hero and heroine would be cardboard cutouts instead of three-dimensional characters. Then it occurred to me that I’d read countless historical novels whose authors hadn’t jousted with knights or suffered the dusty, scorching confines of a covered wagon crossing Oregon Territory. Most probably they hadn’t ridden sidesaddle or churned their own butter or made tallow candles, either. So how was it that their stories and characters seemed so believable? 

It’s been a long time since those novice days at “Scout camp,” and I’ve come to realize we don’t need to be experts at fencing or riding sidesaddle in order to “write what we know.” Admittedly, personal experience is a plus, but whether it’s historical or contemporary fiction, research and reflection are keys to writing good story. Learning to understand an event, skill, or subject in such detail that we can visualize ourselves doing it. For example, in my years of storytelling I’ve discovered how to dress a turkey, deliver a breech calf, and switch a railroad track so that a trainload of Jews in WWII could bypass Auschwitz and head along a carefully mapped route beyond the Carpathian Mountains. In my upcoming WWI historical novel, Not By Sight, I learned with my heroine, Grace Mabry, to cut, aerate, and tie off bales of hay with the use of a steam baler and turn-of-the-century tools. We found that when cranking over the engine of Lord Roxwood’s 1913 Daimler automobile, Grace must keep her thumb aligned with the rest of her hand while giving the handle a quick backward then forward motion; otherwise the force of the engine’s ignition could send the handle flying and break her delicate wrist. She and I and our hero, Jack Benningham, traveled to the lovely seaside town of Margate in the county of Kent in 1917 Britain. We smelled the salt of the sea and watched gulls wheel overhead as gray green waves crashed upon the shore. And I was with her when she visited Margate’s Hall-by-the-Sea, once a very real place with its mechanical amusement rides, and street vendors selling roasted nuts, sausages, and sweet candy floss. 

I experienced these things with Grace through the benefit of research and my imagination. Yes, it’s wonderful if you happen to be a knight with the Society for Creative Anachronism, or a train engineer, or work on a farm, but if not then gaining insight—through books, Internet, photos, videos and movies—can suffice for creating good story. 

And what about those three-dimensional characters? Well, we may not literally take on the role of our hero and heroine, yet as writers and readers we can imagine what it feels like when Grace gets another blister from shoveling trenches beneath a scorching sun, or breathe in the stench of soggy feathers as she gingerly plucks her first chicken. The energy she must expend to crank over the Daimler. We know the pulse-pounding sensation of first love and the tremor of fear; our hearts have threatened to burst with excitement and ache with loss. We know the way joy touches our soul at the sight of a small miracle, proof that God is listening to our prayers. 

Just like actors mentally prepare for their roll on stage, writers must draw upon their own emotional experiences to enhance and deepen their story. “Bleeding onto the page” is a term we often use to describe having to write an intense scene; peeling back those layers and exposing our vulnerabilities in order to create authenticity in our characters. Literally writing what we know so as to reach out and grab the reader by the hand and bring them into our world…

Now, just for fun and a chance to win a free copy of my new novel, Not By Sight, choose one of the questions I’ve listed below and answer in a comment:  1) In a sentence, describe a scene from the novel you’re currently reading that really drew you into the story. 2) In a sentence, name a scene from a previous novel that affected you deeply and tell us why.  

 Not by Sight

In the spring of 1917, all of Britain's attention is on the WWI war front and the thousands of young men serving their country on the front lines. Jack Benningham, dashing heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, is young and able-bodied but refuses to enlist despite the contempt of his peers.

A wealthy young suffragette, Grace Mabry will do anything to assist her country's cause. Men like Jack infuriate her when she thinks of her own brother fighting in the trenches of France, so she has no reservations about handing him a white feather of cowardice at a posh masquerade ball.

But Grace could not anticipate the danger and betrayal set into motion by her actions, and soon she and Jack are forced to learn the true meaning of courage when the war raging overseas suddenly strikes much closer to home and their fervent beliefs become a matter of life and death.




A Florida girl and former bookseller, Kate Breslin migrated to the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her guitarist husband and a persnickety cat. Author of travel articles and award-winning poetry, Kate received Christian Retailing's 2015 Best Award for first time author, and her debut novel, For Such A Time, is a Christy award, RITA award, and Carol award finalist. Kate's second novel, Not By Sight, will release in August, 2015. When she's not writing inspirational fiction, Kate enjoys reading or taking long walks in Washington's beautiful woodlands. She also likes traveling to new places, both within the U.S. and abroad, having toured Greece, Rome, and much of Western Europe. New destinations make for fresh story ideas. Please visit her at www.katebreslin.com.

What Our Stories Teach Us

For Such a Time is the title of my novel. It also summarizes my writing journey. 

Hi, I’m Kate Breslin and honored to be a guest blogger on Seekerville today. I’d like to talk about that journey and how God—through my story—helped to change its course.

First, a bit of background: My writing career started early, consisting of childhood poems and short stories. With adolescence I graduated into more heady prose and creating song lyrics to accompany my guitar. Novel writing came much later, when as an adult I discovered my passion for reading romance. Once I’d exhausted my supply of novels written by my favorite romance authors I decided to try and write one of my own. It certainly wasn’t as easy as it looked! I’ve worked many challenging jobs, but I must say novel writing is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done…and the most rewarding. 

I joined Romance Writers of America as a young and aspiring author, hoping to publish in the general romance market. I wrote my first novel, a 156,000-word Scottish historical that I still affectionately call my “everything but the kitchen-sink” book. After many rejection letters and much revising, I entered the manuscript into RWA’s Golden Heart contest and became a finalist. I was thrilled—all those years of hard work had paid off! I didn’t win, however, and went on to re-revise and resubmit to agents and editors. My stack of rejection letters grew. I began to despair, feeling crushed and wondering if I was even supposed to be a writer. 

Still, I wasn’t quite ready to give up. I finally buried that Scottish book in a drawer and began writing another story then another. I’d heard it said that successful novel-writing consisted of 10% talent and 90% determination, and however realistic those percentages might be, it was sheer tenacity that often kept me at the keyboard. I experienced a few hits and misses with agents, yet nothing came of it so I continued on. During this time, I also began to return into my Catholic Christian faith, and as a Prodigal daughter, I was reading the Bible for the first time and attending church. I started to question my secular pursuits, and briefly considered writing for the inspirational market. But I wasn’t yet spiritually in the right place, so I remained intent upon my own course while ignoring the little Voice inside that told me otherwise.

I believe now God had His hand on me when I got the idea to write For Such A Time. I was reading the Book of Esther from the Bible when I found myself comparing the wicked Haman’s annihilation of the Jews with Hitler’s Holocaust of WWII. I considered setting Queen Esther’s story into that more modern venue and began my research, trying to imagine my characters. Would my heroine, Hadassah, hiding behind false papers in the midst of a Nazi concentration camp, ignore God’s call to salvation? Would she remain helpless to save her people behind Theresienstadt’s walls…or would she take that leap of faith? Did she have a queen’s courage to stand up to her fears and accomplish the task set before her? 

And what of my hero, Aric? Would he, like King Xerxes, listen to the voice of love? Would he see the truth, taking up the call to decency? Or as with many kings in the past, did he consider his position of power and sense of duty more important?

As I wrote my characters, I found their struggles with faith, fear, and uncertainty resonating with my own. After all, I’d been at this writing business for what seemed an eternity, without success. I’d rejected God’s influence more than once and often considered giving up. Was this obstacle course I’d set myself upon His intention for me? 

Yet as I finished writing For Such A Time, it felt right. I felt right. And through the process I’d come to more deeply understand God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. I couldn’t say that about the other novels I’d written. 

But were those earlier stories a waste of time? For nearly twenty years I tried publishing in a market that wasn’t me. I expended reams of paper, gallons of ink, and cried buckets over a mountain of rejection letters. Yet while that Scottish novel may never again see the sun, it, along with my other works did help me—to hone my craft, improve my skills, and simply grow as a writer. Those stories got me ready for the one that really mattered. Through them, I’d come to be exactly where God wanted me—For Such A Time. 

What story changed your journey? How did God call you for such a time as this?

Today, Kate is generously giving away a copy of her debut release to one commenter. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

More about For Such a Time.

In 1944, blond and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz. 

Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy. 


Stella pours herself into her efforts to keep even some of the camp's prisoners safe, but she risks the revelation of her true identity with every attempt. When her bravery brings her to the point of the ultimate sacrifice, she has only her faith to lean upon. Perhaps God has placed her there for such a time as this, but how can she save her people when she is unable to save herself? 

~~~~~

A Florida girl who migrated to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, Kate Breslin lives with her husband, John, and a very spoiled cat named Coco. Kate has written several travel articles, published award-winning poetry, and her first manuscript, a Scottish historical romance, was an RWA Golden Heart finalist. FOR SUCH A TIME is her debut novel. Kate’s writing journey has been one of faith as well as success; after years spent writing novels aimed at the general romance market, she finally heeded God’s call to write stories of how His love brings two hearts together. When not plotting her next novel, she loves spending time with author friends, reading from her mountain of books, or watching anything Jane Austen on BBC. Kate’s also an avid gardener and enjoys taking long walks in Washington State’s many forests. A traveler as well, she’s toured most of the country at one time or another and also been abroad–Paris, Munich, Rome, Pompeii, Athens, even a day trip to Turkey. She’d love to hear from you so please stop by www.katebreslin.com and say hello! 

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28 (NRSV)