Where do you get your ideas from?

mabfan asks the traditional question "Where do writers get their ideas from?", and offers some of the traditional answers: the store on the corner of Lexington and Twenty-Third, the weekly magazine, The Idea Book...

I love this question. Jokey answers, like these, make me laugh. And although writers claim to dislike being asked it, sometimes, for specific stories, they have a really interesting answer. So:

( Chaz Brenchley finds them in bookshops, in the post, in the streets. )

( Alan Moore confesses: )

( But Iain Banks knows the answer )