Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Kimmery Martin, author of Doctors and Friends, which was written prior to COVID-19 about three doctors whose lives are transformed on the front lines of a new pandemic.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I write medical fiction and decided in 2018 to feature an infectious disease doctor during a brand-new, worldwide viral pandemic as the protagonist of my next novel. (Yeah: I know. I am sorry.) The specific idea for the big central question of the plot was inspired by a book I read in 2019 about a physician who had to choose between two dying colleagues for an experimental antiviral treatment (Crisis in the Red Zone, by Richard Preston.) If that sounds too grim to contemplate, please know the novel actually includes quite a bit of humor and sweetness. It was also not inspired by you-know-what!

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I am an inefficient plotter, plagued by a total inability to outline ahead of time. Therefore, my plotting method involves vomiting out 100K words and then wrangling them into some semblance of a suspenseful and coherent story afterward. I do not recommend my method. 

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Most definitely. I can’t imagine that not happening.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Not a day passes that I don’t see or experience something funny or tragic or poignant or irritating or amusing and think to myself, yep, that’s definitely going in my next book. However, that sort of thing tends to lend itself to a subplot or a scene, rather than constituting the big overarching hook of a story. I usually start novels without a clear picture of how they will unfold and subsequently wind up trashing a lot of ideas.  

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I’ve only written four novels, and of those four, only one—the one I am finishing now—percolated for a long time. I think at a certain point, a successful story jams up your mental bandwidth until you just have to finish it. It’s the one that constantly crops up in your thoughts when you are supposed to be doing something else, which, depending on the subject matter, can lead to some awkward interactions.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting? 

Yes, I have the world’s quirkiest rescue dog. He glommed onto me from the moment we met and would prefer never to leave my side. He participated in all the Zooms and hangs out next to me squeaking and snorting and nudging me while I am trying to write. His name is Charlie and he’s on my Instagram a lot too. 

Kimmery Martin is an emergency medicine doctor-turned novelist whose works of medical fiction have been praised by The Harvard Crimson, Southern Living, The Charlotte Observer and The New York Times, among others. A lifelong literary nerd, she promotes reading, interviews authors, and teaches writing seminars. She’s a frequent speaker at libraries, conferences, and bookstores around the United States. Kimmery completed her medical training at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She lives with her husband and three children in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her next novel, Doctors and Friends, is available now.