The most common question asked of a novelist is where they get their ideas. The assumption seems to be that one idea drives each novel. In reality, most single ideas are not strong enough to power a 300+ page work. Singular ideas must be paired or tripled with others, fused together to make something new under the sun.

Idea fusion is the process of taking random single ideas and cross referencing them until two or more ideas fit together. The best idea fusions create more plot options together than they had separately. The best way to understand idea fusion is to see it at work. Following are two novels that I have written and the ideas that fused together to make them. NOTE: Please keep in mind that these are copyrighted works, and do not ‘borrow’ them.

Chasing Phantoms

Idea 1: I was fascinated with the idea of making a character be more than what they seemed, or even opposite. I wanted to create an unexpected hero, in this case a homeless man who is the witness to a murder.

Idea 2: Many middle class folks get stressed out and caught in the money trap. They can’t leave a job they hate because of bills, raising families and so on. It occurred to me that thousands of people must be tempted to just walk out and turn their back on it all. I wondered what would happen if a regular guy with a white-collar job and a mortgage just decided to let it all go and become a transient worker.

Once I had these two ideas, I realized that my homeless guy was the professional-turned-day laborer. These two ideas suddenly became intertwined. But I was not done yet.

Idea 3: Knowing that my homeless man was an unwilling witness to a murder, I knew that he would be forced into a decision to do something about it. I likened this task to the biblical tale of Jonah, a man who fled from a job that God had given to him, only to be pushed back into service again and again. Likening my story to Jonah’s gave it an extra dimension.

Soul Kiss

Idea 1: I was interested in (and a little disturbed by) the idea of psychic vampirism. I felt that the idea of stealing life force or energy from an unwilling donor was a good metaphor for bad relationships. What if the loss of energy that a person felt in a give-give relationship was tangible?

Idea 2: In my visits to Romania I made several friends who were involved in a yoga organization (or cult, depending on who you asked). Their culture involved not only exercise and meditation but also Hindu influenced ideas about life force and planes of being. One friend told me that she used meditation to ‘tap in’ to the high emotional energies that were put out by large groups of people at concerts, movie theaters, etc. Most of my yoga friends looked much younger than their actual ages, presumably from a vegetarian diet, exercise and low stress levels.

As I considered these two ideas, I realized that yoga could be the source of my psychic vampiress’s power. Perhaps one of the yoga students took the idea of tapping into the cosmic energies a step too far, learning to hurt others for her benefit? Once the two ideas began to connect, I was off and running.

Perhaps you have an idea that is compelling but isn’t strong enough to power a novel. What can you add to it to give it another facet and multiple plot turns? Pay attention to the similarities in your ideas and see if two or more can be fused to make a brilliant new premise.