Where one idea was born

Every writer is asked where the ideas come from and most of us say, "I have no idea," because the whole creative process is, well, a bit of a mystery sometimes. This is not to say plotting and character development is not a craft to be honed, but honestly, things pop into my head sometimes that make me go "Hmmm..."

However, the song "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol did spark an idea for a scene that years later became a pivotal scene in The Lady's Secret. For some reason the line "if I lay here...would you lie with me and just forget the world," evoked an image of someone cast out of society and wanting the one person who mattered to remain by his/her side. I must have listened to this song dozens of times on a roadtrip years ago imagining that scene. Now that I'm curious,  I just looked up when this song came out: 2009! Which means that idea fermented in my head for about six years before it finally hit paper. This scene evolved a bit from that original imagining, but the essence of it remained!