Author Stephen King once said that the question he is asked most is where his ideas come from. This quote is the answer he usually gives:
When he’s been in a more snarky mood he has said that he has a magic box in his basement where ideas appear and when he wants to write a book, he just goes and grabs one.
That being said, not all of us have the fertile mind of Stephen King so where can we get our ideas. Many of my ideas have come from these sources.
1. Use News Headlines
I’ve written many short stories and a couple of books by perusing the news headlines. My first published short story, Heal Thyself, came from a headline that I read and then embellished into a ‘what if’ scenario.
I used this piece as a way to overcome getting stuck while writing the novel. I remember traveling to Chicago for work for a period of time when I wrote this story. It was written completely by hand in a notebook while sitting in airports and on airplanes waiting to get somewhere.
I saw a story about a man riding a motorcycle that had been in a horrific crash and his injuries had paralyzed him from the neck down with multiple internal injuries.
Instead of this inevitable outcome, I started thinking about what alternative endings there might be. I have always been an avid reader of everything written by Stephen King and I began thinking of his book, The Dead Zone which centers on a man that wakes from a coma with psychic abilities that end up torturing him. Thinking of that story gave me a direction for Heal Thyself and I was off and running.
2. Use Editorials
As you read the news, you can find subjective editorial pieces that talk about a trend or give an opinion on a current event. These items can be a great source for stories and books. You can either embellish and augment the author’s opinion or devise a story that is counter to their opinion.
Here is an example pulled from an editorial published today called Pulling Back on the Barbaric Use of Solitary Confinement published in the New York Times. The article was written in support of ending the use of solitary confinement in prisons. It cites things like the withholding of sheets and bedding along with the isolation and their propensity to increase depression, paranoia and violence.
It might be fascinating to write a story about the effects of this type of punishment on an innocent prisoner and how it might turn them into the criminal he or she is accused of being. You could also turn it around and talk about how a hardened criminal might pretend to be rehabilitated from being isolated and then, in a reverse, become even more ruthless when repopulated with the other prisoners. You could even have someone in solitary confinement develop some type of mental or physical power during their time alone.
As you can see, these are just a couple of examples of idea incubators that you can pull from. I keep little germs of ideas in a notebook as I find things in the news each morning. I jot down the main idea of the news item with a couple of notes that will help me remember what I was thinking. Right now, I have enough ideas to last me a couple of lifetimes. I just don’t have the time to expand them all.
So, where do you get your ideas? Do you have a magic box in the basement?
A most interesting read, Don. I think my son, Michael, has a magic box like that. Me, I write from experiences, both personal, heard and read.
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Thanks for your thoughts on this.
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I’m with Robbie, Don – personal experience. But then, I don’t write fiction. Even if I did, however, I imagine I’d still find my “magic box” inside myself, for the most part. Your examples peaked my interest, however – and made me think of quite a few movies with plot-lines on similar themes.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
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My pleasure.
xx, mgh
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Pingback: What is your book going to be about? – All About Writing and more
Thanks for sharing this
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My ideas come from everything around me and there are hundreds if not more inside my brain. I worry that I won’t have enough time to write them all up.
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I know that feeling.
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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Thanks for sharing this, Chris
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Welcome, Don – Great post 😀
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Reblogged this on Still Another Writer's Blog.
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Thanks for sharing this.
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You are welcome! I like the magic box in the basement. By the way, I heard John Grisham speak a number of years ago, and after he ran out of ideas from his own life (this is inevitable) he switched to using New York Times obits for his source material. Apparently he reads them every day.
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Interesting. I’ll have to try that.
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Try this: http://www.legacy.com
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Thanks!
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I find inspiration from news items too.
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thanks for sharing this
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thanks for sharing.
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Good article, Don. I found this in my Facebook feed from somebody else who reposted it. I’m going to see about re-blocking it.
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Thanks.
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Ideas are everywhere, as shown by your examples. Some of my best ideas have come from reading books of non-fiction–I take the true events and concoct a mystery in the present that stems from something that really happened in the past. Great post!
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Thanks. I agree. You just have to observe and expand.
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Very interesting Don. I have a memory box.. also images give me a nudge in the right direction as well as snippets in the headlines, particularly stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. x
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I like the memory box idea. That’s a great thought. Thanks for sharing.
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My father-in-law was not just a storyteller but a master woodturner and he produced memory boxes from Irish woods. You were meant to place happy memories into them and lift the lid from time to time to remind yourself of them. I have several dotted around the house.. they are very precious.
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That’s so ironic. I have one that my father-in-law made for me to put all of my youngest daughter’s art work in. I open it every few months and look through some of those precious memories.
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Pingback: Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – Tuesday 8th August 2017 – Lucinda E.Clarke, Steve Tanham, Don Massenzio and Colleen Chesebro | Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life
Thanks for sharing this.
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Great ideas Don. Thanks 🙂
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Thank you.
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🙂
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Pingback: What Is Your Book Going To Be About? (A reblog of a post by Don Massensio) | Dan Alatorre - AUTHOR
Life is story, whether the story becomes Fiction, or the story blossoms from experience. Story ideas sit on one’s shoulder for a lifetime.
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Very well said.
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Great post, Don. I can now understand why it was posted again. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks.
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