Just Curious
Every day (in the morning, over coffee), I scan the NY Times. I read the NY papers (yes, the rags). I read my local paper (I live in Virginia). I check out the BBC. I read gossippy crap. And when a news article captures my fancy, I start Googling like crazy.
Occasionally, a book idea or a character comes out of it.
So what recent REAL-LIFE news story made you think you would take some notes and maybe expand parts of it into a book?
14 comments:
I just happened to see a news piece about a Christian militia group called Hutaree while I was busy with edits on Pocket-47. The leader of this group was named Stone, which was also the name of the leader of the Christian militia group in my book. It was just a coincidence, but I'm sure I would have gotten flak over it had the book gone to press using that name. I changed it to Strychar, which I like better anyway. So it pays to keep an eye on the news, whether for story inspiration or to avoid crazy coincidences like mine.
I become so dismantled after reading the news that I truly believe my muse blocks any and all possible ideas for me to use. All that rubbish spewed by the GOP's "newest" pledge, the crazy conservative Christian right - it's just so disconcerting that I don't want to have to think about it.
But, I have included current events and/or past ones as part of the storyline, which sets me on the research path, hopefully ones that don't make me vomit.
P.S. to Jude: WOW! Awesome coincidence.
Oooo, I do the same thing. I read articles and think what happened next? Where did the family go? What happened to the other guy?
And the the writing process kicks in and the ideas roll. I love newspapers and fear with all the technology that someday they will go away.
Jude:
That is an amazing coincidence. Truth is stranger than fiction.
Kath:
I don't use the negative stuff--but I do sometimes hear of some tidbit (like illuminated manuscripts) as part of a story, and then, like you, go into research mode and follow along in pursuit of an idea.
Aimless:
The Scott Peterson case made me wonder less about the crime, but more about how it must have been for his sister, say, to come to realize her brother was a killer. I wonder about the shock of breaking bread, or shopping with or whatever . . . someone who later turns out to commit some horrible crime--definitely what intrigues me in crime cases.
I have extensive notes on the injury and murder of Albinos in Burundi for Tanzania witch doctors. As awful as it is, I got to thinking, what if the magic worked? It's still just story gem- short stories take a long time for me to develop because I require so much irony and dilemma out of myself when writing them.
I also have an idea about trees from our local beetle-kill devastation. I have a few pages of notes on tree-gods
OH and I almost forgot, I'm using the Mexican drug wars in my next book.
Starbucks;
That witchcraft idea sounds very interesting. I love when authors combine reality and fiction.
My current wip is based on a true news story I read about two years ago. A man woke up in the middle of the night and fought an intruder who was attacking the man's teenage daughter. The intruder died and when they took off his mask they realized they new him from working in the neighborhood. I took that and asked what if the intruder was their next-door neighbor and close friend?
There was a news piece recently about this empty house in Santa Barbara owned by an heir - I was fascinated and will probably write something about it someday. I love old houses and used one in book #3.
Melanie:
Ahhh . . . the great "what if" . . . where nearly all my book ideas come from.
:-)
Nadine:
I used a haunted former brothel in Diary of a Blues Goddess.
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