Goodreads asked Jennifer Greene:

How do you get inspired to write?

Jennifer Greene Everywhere in life. My favorite themes involve women's rights/women's issues--not in ANY political way. But I believe books reach readers--in a non-judgmental, easy way. Fiction doesn't tell you what to do. Fiction shows you how characters behave...if you're talking women's stories, you're talking how good men behave, what defines good women and good men. Everyone has trouble. Everyone has something in the closet they don't want discovered. Everyone wants to believe someone would be there for them--even if they knew the dark secrets, the mistakes, the fears.
The best books come from the gut. Honesty doesn't come from a moral code; it comes from the heart. No matter how long you've written, there are always stories 'down deep'...the more you can be 'real' with the reader, the more you offer them a read that hits home.
You could write a book today---and twenty years from now write the same book. I had a humorous battle with a dear dear writing friend--we'd both written books, on the same themes, for years, without once being aware we were doing 'the same thing.' Of course we weren't. No one can write a book your way but you. That book won't be 'less' 20 years from now. It would just offer new ways of thinking and believing that you didn't know back then.
Trying to say: most authors find they tend to love a certain theme or range of themes. That they tend to be inspired by the same type of conflict. Half the time, we don't know that when we first start? But if you can identify, at the gut level, what really matters to you, that core heart theme, you'll find what your strongest inspiration is.

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