"Where do your ideas come from?"

That question so often asked of science fiction writers by neo-fans, the media, relatives who don't read SF, and all manner of outsiders was answered once, tongue in cheek, by SF author Roger Zelazny. In front of a group of fans at a convention, he replied to a vacuous teenager that the Journal of Crazy Ideas is published quarterly in Schenectady, New York, and that when you join the Science Fiction Writers of America and become a certified professional you get a free subscription and can use any of the ideas in the magazine instead of having to think up your own. This is one of the secrets of being a professional and one of the reasons why two different writers will have the same idea in different stories.

Opening paragraph of Chapter 6 from Age of Wonders, by David Hartwell.