There are two questions I often get from beginning writers. One is when did I start writing? The second is where do my ideas come from?
In answer to the first question, I have always been an avid reader of crime fiction and grand adventures. It was only natural that at some point, I would try to write my own stories. But, the path to publication has not been easy. In college, I took a creative writing course. I soon found out I was not destined for literary writing. Life went on. Then, Uncle Sam pointed his finger at me for the South East Asian Tour. It was off to Ankhe up in the Central Highlands. When I returned to the World, I finished college and joined the old BNDD as a Special Agent.
While working on the bike gangs in Kansas City, I often read Easyriders magazine to get a feel for the biker life style. Upon reading one of their stories, I told myself that I could write a better story than that one. So, I wrote a story and sent it in. The editor bought it. I thought I could write. Then, the editor bounced my second submission. I went back to the drawing board and more carefully studied story structure and other elements of good story writing. The editor bought my next submission.
I had three takeaways from this situation. The first was to write the best story I could. The second was that even reading bad fiction was good if it inspired me to write a better story. And thirdly, I may not be a literary writer, but I was a storyteller. I just needed to put it down on paper in a correct fashion.
Side Note: At that time, special agents were not allowed to have outside employment, to include writing fiction, but the agency had a first-class undercover course where they taught agents how to be someone else. So, the byline on my beginning stories was one of my nicknames from the street and the check came in one of my undercover names. I was merely practicing what the agency taught me. Damn good school.
As for the second question of where did story ideas come from, I was up to my ear lobes in criminal characters, from hard core street dudes to those who had their own armies. Some of these people were very impressive. You wouldn’t want to take them home for supper, but they could make great story characters.
I spent a few years honing my craft on small publishers who paid ten dollars, if you were lucky, or maybe just in contributor copies. Then, one day I decided to go for the gold ring. On the website for the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, then editor Kathleen Jordan mentioned she was looking for stories set in an exotic location. It just so happened that I had in inventory a story set in the Golden Triangle of Burma, Laos and Thailand. I submitted it. She bought it. I was ecstatic. Then panic set in. If I didn’t want to be a one-trick pony, then my next submission would have to be first rate and original. At that point, I had nothing in inventory. But, I knew criminals and criminals steal, so I stole ideas from Issac Azimuth, Nero Wolfe, Dashiell Hammett and the Kansas City Black Mafia. Two members of this latter group had street names of Twin and Twin Brother. Twin and I got to know each other quite well before he went off to join his brother in a stricter environment. Thus was born The Twin Brothers Bail Bond Firm series. Kathleen bought the first three stories in the series before she passed.
Linda Landrigan became the editor and soon sent me an e-mail requesting changes on that third story, which was already bought and paid for. What did I do? I made the requested changes. Linda went on to buy nine more stories in the series. She also bought stories in the Holiday Burglar series, the 1850 Chechnya series, the 1660 Paris Underworld series, the Golden Triangle series, the San Francisco Gold Rush series and the Prohibition Era series. Some of these stories were based on her suggestions made during conversations at various writing conferences.
What did I learn from all of the above? Well, write what you know. If you don’t know it, then research, research, research. Daydreaming helps a lot. Always remember, the editor is the boss. Linda once requested a story from the point of view of the Little Nogai Boy in the 1850 Chechnya series. Prior to that the Mongol boy had no dialogue and not more than three lines of narrative. I buckled down and wrote the story. She published it and it went on to be nominated for a Derringer Award. Find a time period or setting where other authors aren’t writing and see if you can squeeze a series in. Be a breath of fresh air. Keep submitting stories with new plots and solutions, or new takes on old plots and solutions. Don’t overload any one editor’s slush pile. Space your submissions out over time. After all, with all the other potential reasons out there for rejection, you don’t want to compete against yourself. There are other markets.
A couple of thoughts on networking for recognition in the writing community. Volunteer for office in your local organized writing chapter. You’ll meet some good people, generous with writing advice and connections. Attend writing conferences and volunteer as a panelist. If attendees like the way you talk, they will buy your books and stories. Once again, you will meet good people and you never know what new connection will help you sell aa story. Ask me in a writers’ conference bar sometime.
Trace Evidence 
A great blog post, from a writer who knows what he’s doing, especially in the short fiction arena.