Sylvester Stallone shows you exactly how to become one:
(re: his show Tulsa King)
“When I wrote this scene the inspiration came from a very odd place. I couldn’t sleep so I got up at 3 in the morning. I was watching some animal show, and I saw the story of this ‘Jesus lizard’ that lived in Central America. And I thought the name was so unique that it inspired me to write a scene using that name, and it turned out to be the MOST sensational finale of all of the Tulsa King series! So you never know where inspirational is going to come from!”
The ‘ol “out of nowhere flash” JRR Tolkien also talked about.
True story about that:
On September first last year, I started writing a new series of novels.
I want it to be 7 books.
But I could not figure out what books 6 & 7 would be.
Books 1-5 concepts were clear in my head even a full year earlier than that, when I originally wanted to write them. But not books 6 & 7. Just couldn’t crack them. That is, until I heard a single line, from a song in the “The Lost Boys” movie soundtrack of all places, while rewatching it with Stefania.
That ONE line gave me an idea totally out of nowhere.
And that single idea made the series, characters, themes, and plot far better.
My best-selling Markauteur book happened the same way:
I was on a walk listening to an audio book about Alfred Hitchcock. And out of nowhere, the image of a book cover (that is now the same pic I use on my main website and as the banner on my social media pages, incidentally) flashed in my mind.
Didn’t have a title or any prior thoughts.
Certainly I didn’t ever plan to write a book about design, of all topics.
But I wrote down the image in my head on my phone and emailed it to myself.
When I got home a few hours later, I (crudely) sketched it on a legal pad, scanned it, and then sent it to Email Players subscriber Kia Arian who does all my book covers without a single word of the content written, or even knowing what I’d title it.
Fast forward a year & a half later:
I launched Markauteur, one my most expensive (retails for over $1,000) & esoteric books, to the tune of nearly 100 sales. I thought it might pull 15 or 20, maybe 30, sales max. Especially at the several hundred dollars launch price.
That book has also opened other doors for my business since.
Like, for example, Dan Kennedy liked it so much he asked to buy them in bulk to send to his VIPs.
And it still keeps giving back nearly 4 years since I launched it.
All from an “out of nowhere flash” I acted upon.
When it comes to capturing ideas it pays to be pedantic, prepared, and paranoid.
This is especially true if you want your email marketing to be simple, fun, and profitable, too, in my opinion.
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Ben Settle
