storytelling

What shall I write about?
I am applying this question specifically to this blog. I find it easy enough to create stories, and indulge my imagination by creating characters, situations, plots and themes. I have even managed to turn several stories into full length novels.
Give me an audience and I will tell them a story. But telling a story is not the same as writing one, though it is a good beginning.
I should perhaps pause here at the start to state that not all writers use the same methods to stimulate their inspirational genes. I am merely showing here in this blog how I personally arrive at a written work.
Mostly I have already written the book before I write it. Sounds confusing, doesn't it.
Let me give you some examples.
My Splurge books were both based on stories I told my grandchildren as I took them to school, each morning while their mother was in hospital. The name 'Splurge' sounded suitably different to the more usual names like 'Harry' (of Potter fame). I stressed that 'Splurge' was an ordinary boy, just like my grandson, but a boy who had extraordinary adventures. My grandchildren's imaginations were stirred, and so was mine. The stories, the ones I told my grandchildren, were full of adventure, magic, supernatural, time shifting and plenty of mystery. The mystery was always resolved by the end of the story. There was never enough time to complete a story in one trip and when I picked them up after school they would eagerly request the continuation of Splurge's adventures and how he would deal with his latest tricky situation. ( I always contrived to leave them with a 'cliffhanger').
When I later decided to turn the stories into fully fledged novels, of course I had to provide a satisfactory explanation as to how Splurge came by his name - thus six uncles were invented, Sidney, Leonard, Ulysses, Ronald,George Edwards (his surname). Boys generally like nicknames as it gives them a kind of special individuality that standard names don't.
I found that in writing books for older children, I could also slip in my own quirks, like beginning each book with a quotation (mostly Shakespeare). I'm still looking for a suitable one to preface the latest - 'Splurge and the Hall of Mirrors'. Any ideas? Anyone? Never mind. I'll think of something.
Did I ever tell you the story about Splurge and the time he met a ghost at the circus? No. Well just sit back and listen......... That is the way I would often begin a story if I have my audience in front of me. I could tell you one now, if you like. No. Another time perhaps. Or would you prefer to wait until it comes out in paperback?

With other kinds of stories such as No Sanctuary, which is an historical romance, I often use my own sense of the dramatic. When I first visited Tewkesbury Abbey, I was in awe of the fact that armed knights had actually fought to the death inside this church. (Hence the title)