Stranger Than Fiction

“Where do you get your ideas?”

It’s the classic question readers ask authors. Many authors dislike the question because there’s no one answer—they get ideas from literally everywhere.

For me, the richest source of ideas is real life. Here’s a fun exercise. Go to your favorite online news site and copy the top six headlines. Then see how many you can twist, reshape or even combine with one another to create viable story ideas.

Here’s my page from the news today, June 21, 2010. I used the U.S. page of Yahoo! News.

MONTANA TORNADO RIPS ROOF OFF SPORTS ARENA

The largest tornado to hit Billings, Montana, in fifty years tears the top off a stadium. In real life, only two people were present and neither was hurt, but the day before, thousands of people filled the arena for an Indoor Football League game. Move the disaster a day earlier and you’ve got the makings of a nifty disaster thriller.

KENTUCKY CON MAN GETS TWO LIFE SENTENCES FOR 1980 DEATHS

During the trial of serial killer Edward W. Edwards, he confessed to an additional murder—that of his stepson—in the hopes that it would get him the death penalty. It may not, but in the meantime he’s provided the solution to a very cold murder case. Or has he? What if you wrote a mystery in which a man already convicted of four murders throws in another he didn’t really commit?

BACH AND BEYOND: NEW YORKERS PLUNK ON PUBLIC PIANOS

Dozens of pianos have been placed around New York City as part of a public art project. Anyone can just plunk down and play. Sounds like the ultimate “cute meet” to me. I guarantee you some clever romance writer is already crafting a proposal based on this idea.

ROUNDUP RESISTANT WEEDS POSE ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT

New generations of weeds are resistant to the weed killer Roundup. How about a science thriller about evil weeds that take over a city?

COP, DALLAS POLICE CHIEF’S SON DEAD AFTER SHOOTOUT

These two officers were killed responding to a domestic disturbance on Father’s Day. How about a suspense novel in which the whole thing is a setup—the disturbance a fake created in order to get one of the officers into the house and shot?

iCAMPAIGNING? CANDIDATES TURNING TO PHONE APPS

Today’s tech-savvy politicians are creating their own apps to feed information to supporters. Some of these people are creating these apps on their own, or paying people on staff to make them. What if one of these apps went haywire, feeding extremely personal emails to thousands of iPhones? Could be very funny. You could take it in any of a number of directions: chick lit, romance, humorous mainstream . . .

Try this out for yourself. You’ll discover that truth is not only stranger than fiction; it provides a constant flow of story ideas.