Inside IDIA: The History of IDIA

Before I get started on this post, I just want to remind everyone that the IDIA Fan Creations Contest is open for submissions! You can see the entries I’ve already received on the new IDIA Fan Art page. Go check them out! They’re so cool, and they may give you inspiration for your own creations. 🙂 Now, on to the post!

Hullo, friends! Remember that poll where I asked all of you what you wanted to see me post? Well, one of the top things was an Inside IDIA series, where I talk about various Easter eggs, characters, and behind the scenes info for the series. I decided that the best place to start this would be with a history of how I came up with the idea for IDIA. So let’s begin, shall we?

I may have talked about the origins of IDIA a few times, but mostly just in vague mentions, never in detail. I was rereading some old stories and realized that the tale of IDIA is one worth telling.

The first thing I came up with was the name: The International Defense and Intelligence Agency. To begin with, it had absolutely nothing to do with superheroes. I actually first used it as a normal spy-type government agency in a sci-fi novella I wrote, partially for a creative writing class. I was honestly really proud of coming up with an acronym that made a (sort-of) real word and sounded official. I finished the book and even used a few characters in one of my Tales From The Writer’s Desk, but I ended up deciding that sci-fi wasn’t my thing and left that novella on my computer to gather virtual dust. (I actually went back and read that story, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Although if I ever decide to publish it, I’ll have to rename that spy agency…)

A year or two later, I came up with the idea (he-he) for Twinepathy, and I was looking for a name for the organization of superheroes. Somehow, IDIA came to mind again, and I decided to give the organization a revamping. Lo and behold, the IDIA you know today was born! I had a ton of help from beta readers smoothing out the organization. The various ranks in IDIA (alphas, betas, deltas, gammas, and omegas) weren’t added in until a later draft of the story, and helped make IDIA more structured and official. So thanks to beta readers and creative writing class, we have the IDIA you know today!

What do you think of how IDIA came about? Have any similar stories? What did you think of this post? Comment below with your thoughts!