Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas?
By Andrew Crofts•March 07, 2025•3 min read
There is often an awkward pause in the opening moments of literary question-and-answer sessions as self-conscious fiction fans pluck up the courage to raise their hands. At least one brave soul usually breaks the ice with that old favourite: ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
I have been giving this question some thought, with particular reference to the novels I have written over the last twenty or so years, and I have realised that all too often these ideas come to me from very dark places indeed.
The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride was written during a time when I was ghostwriting for a number of soap stars and winners of reality television talent shows. I have always been fascinated by the way extreme fame is arbitrarily bestowed on some people – from ‘Taylor and Burton’ to ‘The Kardashians’ – and the effect that being endlessly in the media spotlight has on their lives and the lives of those around them. At the time I also had a child who was pursuing acting ambitions and was thinking about how the business worked and how to get a first foothold. The more I thought about it, the more the character of Steffi grew in my mind, and the more tortuous her experiences became.
Around the time of the Arab Spring, I was working as a ghostwriter in the Middle East, sometimes in the palaces and offices of the astonishingly wealthy and powerful people at the top, sometimes with those who were struggling at the bottom of the social pile. I was also spending a lot of time trying to tame a large garden in England and passing many hours thinking beside bonfires, contemplating the inequities of life and the consequences that seemed to be unravelling for some of the world’s dictators. Gradually the characters and storyline of Secrets of the Italian Gardener emerged in my head. Most of the resulting story takes place within the confines of the palace of a dictator who is about to be overthrown.
When Donald Trump won his first term as president I was stunned. I guess I was – and possibly still am – living in a ‘liberal elite’ bubble, unable to imagine that such a thing could ever occur. For many months I found it hard to tear my eyes off Twitter as I attempted to make sense of the new reality.
Many years before, I had predicted, in a book titled Hype! The Essential Guide to Marketing Yourself, that property tycoon Donald Trump could probably achieve whatever he wanted in life from the publicity platform he had created for himself, but I had never imagined he would be awarded the world’s top job. Anyway, it got me thinking, with the result that I took the ghostwriter narrator from Secrets of the Italian Gardener and sent him to Hollywood, where a film star and a tech billionaire were working together to get a crime family voted into the White House. The result was the novel What Lies Around Us.
A couple of years ago my wife and I moved to an insanely idyllic village, right at the centre of the country. If you were to describe the perfect, fictional English village, this one would be it. We live on a high street which is used by more horses and dogs than cars, with uninterrupted views across a valley on the other side. There are families who have lived here for generations, with newcomers like us only just starting to edge in. When I am working in the front garden, behind the post box, or walking around the village, everyone stops to chat and gossip and slowly but surely the much grimmer history of the village depicted in On the Backs of Others started to take root in the most shadowy part of my mind. The more I thought about the characters I was inventing to live in this fictional village, the more the darkness which must lie in the depths of my subconscious rose to the surface.
As a ghostwriter, I have written dozens of books for the victims of abuse, oppression, crime and exploitation (an early novel I wrote, initially titled Maisie’s Amazing Maids, later reissued as Pretty Little Packages, was on exactly those subjects), and I guess I have been shaped by the stories I’ve heard to see sinister undercurrents and bad intentions everywhere, even behind the idyllic cottage facades of an entirely innocent English country village.
So, the ideas for stories tend to be triggered for me by external events or people that I meet on my travels, and are then propelled by plots that rise up from the stories I have been told about the very darkest sides of human nature.
Two mysterious strangers arrive in the village, just as news emerges from the forbidden Manor House that the reclusive master is dead.
As ruthless developers threaten to destroy generations of tradition, a lavish social media wedding promises salvation through renovation and renewal. But dark truths are lurking beneath the village’s cosy facade.
Long-buried secrets rise to the surface, exposing a multigenerational web of cruelty and complicity, and the villagers must decide whether they will continue to cling to the lies and illusions of the past, or expose painful memories to the light.
A sharp, atmospheric exploration of privilege, power and the tragic price of progress.
Call Me Joe
The world is on the brink of disaster. The environment, society and mankind itself are facing extreme challenges in a world that is both more connected, and yet more divided than ever before. Fear and confusion seep into all parts of everyday life… now, more than ever, the world needs one voice, one guide…
One day the Earth is plunged into darkness and when light appears again so does a man – call him Joe – claiming to be the son of God. Can Joe bring the world’s most creative thinkers and leaders together to tackle the ills of mankind? Can he convince us all to follow him before it’s too late?
In this compelling and prescient novel, Martin van Es and Andrew Crofts highlight the key concerns of our time and imagine a future where we, at last, all work together to ensure the future of our world and all the life that calls it home.
Reviews
“The writing itself is top-notch … Crofts and Van Es make a dream team …”
Jasmine Rothon, cubmagazine.co.uk
“…it is wonderful, for so many different reasons … it really lifted me up and gave me hope … it showed me how simply we can make all the changes needed … an incredibly engaging read … the authors obviously have a great deal of love for the world we live in and the people that inhabit it.”
Tales Before Bedtime
“I loved every word … I loved the concept …fascinating and so real … a unique read.”
The Book Lover’s Boudoir
” … a book that’s stayed in my mind … you can’t help but keep reading … a mix of satire yet serious themes. An intriguing, thrilling, almost prescient read … subjective, thoughtful, current and frightening – a book everyone should pick up … Bravo to the author for writing such a provocative read.”
AlexJ book reviews
” … a powerful story with a well executed plot and brilliant writing … a brilliantly thought-provoking read. It’s incredibly relevant to our time and a book you do not want to miss.”
The Bibliophile Chronicles
” … a great book to read these days …will move every reader and will change the way we see the world.”
Varietats
“…this stirring novel … this immersive, magnetic story …This gentle, optimistic story of Christ’s Second Coming will resonate with readers looking for a message of hope and empowerment.”
Publishers’ Weekly
“I’ve never read something like Call Me Joe before, and I’m probably unlikely to do so again … jam-packed with tension … appealing to a younger age group.”
Joyful Antidotes
“The most special thing about Call Me Joe is credibility … The novel is written very realistically, when in fact it is an absurdist idea.”
Lisa on Twitter
“Readers who enjoy apocalyptic stories that focus on more than just physical and psychological survival alone will delight in the social, political, and spiritual entanglements … an involving, compelling read right up to the conclusion and a call for radical re-envisioning of mankind’s choices and social and political structures for the sake of the planet’s survival.”
Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review
“… highly compelling … This unique spin …demonstrates the idea that we could come together to ensure a safe future …”
Soul and Spirit Magazine
“The characters are definitely one of the highlights for me”
Melanie’s Reads
“A very different book … a way to start the conversation to ‘save’ the world … utterly relevant today, I don’t just mean today as in the grand scheme of time, I literally mean TODAY … a really interesting book … has started a fair few questions in my head and has pushed me to look into what I can personally do … to try to help the earth and the people living on it … a really worthwhile book as long as you go in open minded … the writing style was immersive.”
Read to Ramble
“Absolutely devoured Call Me Joe … it feels distressingly timely”
Drink.Read.Repeat
“A collection of humans who need to band together from the hate and the worry to put the future above gains … when we become less of the countries we inhabit and more become the protectors of the planet … read with an open mind with a view to challenge your thinking … a look at creating a world where we are more caring and kinder to each other to in the end save humanity.”
The Twist and Turn Book Blog
“A very time appropriate novel – the bickering of world leaders, the greed and self interest of so many. The author wants readers to consider what they would do to save humanity … it’s a book to make you think about your own actions in the world we live in and whether if we all followed the same principles, that life would be universally much better, much kinder.”
Becks Books
“what I enjoyed the most … the well crafted and extremely convincing response and interplay between the world’s leaders, especially the nuanced take on the Russian president and team – Very much worth a read.”
Mumbling About
” … sensitively playing off tensions between the forces of a Tom Clancy-style worldwide stage and the much tighter community found in typical contemporary Christian fiction – effective combination of international thriller and religious novel.”
Kirkus Reviews
” … a perfect balance of science and religion.”
Shayney’s Book Corner
” … it had a profound effect on me … truly empowering …”
HayleyReviews10
” … just brilliant … mind-blowing … left me emotional and speechless … one of the best books out this year …”
Surjit’s Books Blog
“I am left lost for words in awe of the authors’ creativity and imagination … This is a book that will stay with me… such a deep and incredibly thought provoking storyline, that made me challenge my own spiritual beliefs, curl up on the sofa and never want to return to normal existence again.”
Lost in Her Bookland
What Lies Around Us?
Why would one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful billionaires offer a British ghostwriter a million dollars to write the autobiography of one of Hollywood ’s biggest stars?
Only once he is living and working amongst the world’s richest and most beautiful people does the ghost realise that there is way more than a publishing deal at stake. Everyone he meets seems to have a hidden agenda and someone is willing to kill to ensure that their plans work out. But what are those plans, who are the ultimate puppet-masters and how far are they willing to go?
What Lies Around Us takes us to a world where ghostwriters work with presidents, (James Patterson and Bill Clinton writing The President is Missing), and create presidents, (Tony Schwartz who ghosted The Art of the Deal , setting President Trump on the road to becoming the most famous name in the world).
This is the world of myth-makers, story-tellers and media manipulators – the people who really run the world and the ones who shape the global conversations.
Reviews
“I haven’t been able to get my head around everything this book made me feel and think … So many important themes plus a great storyline in just the right amount of pages to be read in one sitting. I’m not sure I will ever come across a book like this again.”
Joyful Antidotes blog.
“Unique, current and compelling … held my interest to the end. Dark and powerful … thought provoking … a fascinating read.”
Books of all Kinds
“What a clever, engrossing and unsettling read … it’s impossible to detach yourself from his words. The author makes himself, his characters and his readers complicit in a worldwide web of deceit and intrigue so that I finished the book feeling once again that I am incredibly ignorant and unthinkingly accepting of what does indeed lie around me. I loved the references to Andrew Crofts’ The Italian Gardener and to publishing in general so that not only is What Lies Around Us a cracking story, but it provides an insight into the research processes of a ghost writer and to the publishing industry as a whole. I felt quite sorry for even the largest publishing houses and have developed an even greater respect for what they have to do to be a success… What I also found fascinating was the recurrent image of food, meals and eating which suggests nourishment and sustenance and yet at these times some of the most wicked and disturbing control and confession takes place so that What Lies Around Us seems to shake the very lifeblood of humanity. Polite conversation is juxtaposed against startling action and revelation… So many disquieting themes remain with me that I think it will resonate for a very long time… What Lies Around Us is a thought-provoking exploration of morality, social media, corruption and power so that it packs an intellectual punch at the same time as being an intriguing and entertaining story … I really recommend you read it for yourself. If you haven’t yet discovered Andrew Crofts’ elegant and sophisticated prose, you’re missing a stunning treat.”
Linda’s Book Bag
“It’s absolutely captivating as it pulls apart the very world we are now so ensconced into …Control, manipulation, corruption, it shows how the world can be twisted and moulded into the favour of someone if enough money and influence is aimed at it… Fast paced, and thrilling, it’s gripping, superbly written and completely fascinating whilst shocking and very dark in parts.”
Alex J. Books
“I could not put it down…There were so many mysteries going on and I just had no idea how it was going to end. When I turned the last few pages I was so surprised. The plot is brilliantly executed and definitely kept me guessing… I also really liked the writing style and found myself wanting to read more and more just to find out how it was going to end… It’s an engaging, thought provoking thriller.”
The Bibliophile Chronicles
“An intriguing and shocking tale.”
ChataboutBooks
“Pacy, well written window on a world we rarely see. It is a tale of our age.”
Bookety Book Blog
“I found this book utterly fascinating! …Thank goodness it lived up to its hype and more! …This is a fantastic look at the world of ghostwriting and the publishing industry as well as social media and fake people and lives! …A really good fast paced read, that I could not wait to get back into every time!”
The Twist and Turn Book Blog
Secrets of the Italian Gardener
Mo, the wealthy dictator of a volatile Middle Eastern country, enlists a ghostwriter to tell his story to the world, enshrining him in history as a glorious ruler. Inside Mo’s besieged palace the ghost forms a friendship with a wise and seemingly innocent Italian gardener who slowly reveals that the regime isn’t all it appears to be. The ghost discovers the shocking truth of who really holds the power and wealth in the world.
As a violent rebellion threatens all their lives, the ghost is also struggling to cope with a personal secret too painful to bear.
Secrets of the Italian Gardener takes the reader on a heart-pounding journey through the bloody downfall of a doomed tyrant in the company of a young couple struggling to cope with the greatest private tragedy imaginable.
Andrew Crofts has spent much of his ghostwriting career amongst the dictators, politicians, arms dealers and billionaires who hold the reins of power and control the wealth of the world, stationed in their lavish palaces and heavily guarded compounds in the wildest parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East as well as in tax havens like Monaco, Geneva, Bermuda and the Caribbean.
Reviews
“Such a clever and disturbing book …terrible sense of unease …makes the reader question every underlying principle in their life …I finished feeling completely disturbed … shocked and not a little naïve … totally mesmerising.”
Lindasbookbag.com
“WOW. Left me reeling by the end …a beautifully crafted and clever story full of depth and intrigue …pacy and becomes surprisingly sinister … I loved the tense, uneasy feeling … Andrew Crofts is a genius story teller … an incredibly thought provoking story… YOU NEED TO READ IT!!!”
Ifindoubtread.wordpress.com
“Unexpected shocking events had me wide awake for hours after …the journey it took me on was one I won’t forget.”
Lovebooksgroup.blog
“Full of power and threat …Crofts’ magical storytelling ability.”
Harrysbookclub.wordpress.com
“Totally Absorbing … fascinating, interesting and compelling.”
Shortbookandscribes.uk
“An absorbing, well crafted novella.”
Basfordwrites.com
“Very moving and thought provoking …I feel like I’ve just read a true story … you are left gripped …a very emotive story that tugs at your heart and your own belief in humanity.”
Kraftireader
“Deeply insightful, often disturbing … that would leave me uneasy and uncomfortable throughout … extremely clever and well-written … a dark sense of foreboding and shadow … which really left me edgy and alert at all times … the story bursts from the pages and really grips you … unique and well worth reading.”
Booksofallkinds
“Wow! … what a kick ass, heart pounding novella … Andrew really does pack a punch … twists, turns and tragedy and I was hanging on the edge of my seat.”
hayley10reviews
“A very powerful novel, and one that stayed with me long after I’d finished reading – probably my favourite piece of literary fiction I’ve read this year. A powerful and thought provoking book.”
Thebibliophilechronicles
“Not like anything I had ever read before and definitely took me out of my comfort zone … but I loved it … so many moments of unease with twists and turns throughout … I still have this sense of unease and shock …shocking, unexpected and enthralling. 145 pages of pure excitement.
Onedaydreamaway
Pretty Little Packages
When a girl called Doris informs ghostwriter, Joe Tye, that someone has “stolen her beautiful new breasts” and asks for his help, he is plunged into the dark and dangerous worlds of people-trafficking and modern slavery.
At the same time as dealing with the amorous advances of the sixteen year-old daughter of a gangster, who also happens to be his client, and navigating his way through drug dens and backstreet clinics from Brighton to Manila, Joe is trying to be a responsible, newly-divorced father to a young son who constantly does the unexpected – and then things turn really ugly.
At the heart of everything sits Maisie, and her network of “Amazing Maids” – all called Doris and all having their breasts stolen. But behind Maisie lie much more powerful and sinister forces. People for whom other people’s lives are entirely expendable. People who do not want Joe telling stories.
Reviews
“Dark, suspenseful and incomparable – a remarkable story – an abundance of twists.”