Some novelists will tell you that you simply have to read newspapers and magazines, watch TV news or listen to the radio to get story ideas.
Those are great ways to let your imagination take off in the "what if" direction -- what if this instead of that happened? Subconsciously, that's where a lot of stories come from, even from our own life events, as we embellish, insert some twists and turns, come up with some juicy sub-plots, etc. Those nuggets become a mother lode.
But looking at headlines -- without reading the story -- can be a great exercise in letting your imagination run wild. Give some thought about following headlines and then read the story and compare:
I do advise following up on news stories because of the remote chance you could imagine the real thing. You've heard it before: Life is sometimes stranger than fiction!
Until the next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment