Yellow Mama E zine

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS FROM?

by Jon Park

          Colin took a seat in the warehouse and opened his notebook. He saw familiar faces in the audience. Fellow budding authors, looking for those elusive answers. The Holy Grail. Where do writers get their ideas from? So many of the authors at these events trotted out bullshit answers. “The book fairy delivers them. Or, “It came to me in a dream.” 
         Colin hadn’t given much thought to why the event was being held in a disused warehouse in Brooklyn. Like the majority of the audience, he had coughed up $200 for a golden ticket and a guarantee all would be revealed. Today they would get to peek behind the curtain and into the inner workings of an author’s mind. 
          The room fell silent as a man stepped from the shadows and began to address them. 
          “Welcome, everyone. I hope you like the venue? My name is Max Vaughan. Like you I am an aspiring writer. Like you I have been looking for the answer. Where do the big guns get their ideas from? Ideas that seem to allude us mere mortals. Well, today I will reveal it all to you. Next stop: the New York Times Best Seller list. So let us begin.”
        The crowd applauded as Max pushed a chair from the shadows. Colin could see strapped to the chair was the thriller writer Thomas Gibson. The author’s mouth was taped shut. 
         “From the reaction, I can see many of you recognise Thomas Gibson,” continued Max.             “His latest tome tops the Best Seller list. With book sales of over 60 million I hear you ask, where does Thomas get his ideas from? Well. let me show you.”
         The audience gasped as Max pulled a gun from his jacket and pressed it against the side of Thomas’s head. 
         “Okay people,” cried Max, “Get ready to note down those ideas.”
         As the shot rang out, Colin closed his eyes. A story was already forming in his head. He began to scribble in his bloodstained notebook.


          Jon Park lives in the North East of England. He is inspired by the work of Cindy Rosmus, Paul D. Brazill, and the Ramones. His favourite film is Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. Jon loves his mam who started it all.

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     If Charles Addams, Edgar Allan Poe, and Willy Wonka sired a bastard child it would be the fat asthmatic by the name of Michael D. Davis. He has been called warped by dear friends and a freak by passing strangers. Michael started drawing cartoons when he was ten, and his skill has improved with his humor, which isn’t saying much. He is for the most part self-taught, only ever crediting the help of one great high school art teacher. His art has been shown at his local library for multiple years only during October due to its macabre nature. If you want to see more of Michael’s strange, odd, weird, cartoons you can follow him on Instagram at mad_hatters_mania.