Original story ideas are as rare as unicorns. An old adage says, "There are no new ideas under the sun; writers have found them all." When you start chasing the fictional unicorn, you must remember that what you want to find are ideas which may not be new, but ones that will fire your creative drive and spark passion in the hearts of readers. Ask ten writers where they get their story ideas, and you'll get ten different answers. I like magazines, newspapers, autobiographical ideas and stories from friends and family. Let me show you how I search for my unicorns.
Before you begin exploring for story ideas, go out and purchase a box of tabbed file folders. For ideas that pique my interest but aren't in my usual genre, I file them in the "Possible" file. If a story idea is "my cup of tea," I give the label a definite title for future reference.
In a recent edition of Newsweek, I found an article titled, "Take a Left at the Unicorn." This article was about the mythical city of Atlantis. That article gave me a title for this piece. On the same page in Newsweek, I found another article about smoking being banned in California bars. A short story began to spin in my mind around this topic. I clipped the two articles and put them in my "Possible" file.
On another page of this magazine I found a great bit of information to use in a novel I'm writing. The clip, concerning futuristic technology, goes in my working file for "Far Memories." It will come in handy for my story, set in the year 2033. No, it is not science fiction, but the setting is in the future, and the clip will add a bit of color to increase my story's credibility.
In this one magazine issue, I found no less than 50 story ideas. The magazine is a treasure trove of information that wakes up my muse and stirs creative juices--like Mauna Loa on a rampage.
When I turn to the morning papers, more ideas are added to my folders: politics, historical bits, current trends in fashion, human interest features, a grocery ad and a police story. The story about the policeman reminded me of a story I found a few years ago.
In The Tulsa World, I saw a picture of a Tulsa police officer sitting on a low, stone wall in front of a church. Behind him was a beautiful stained glass window with a bullet hole in it. I read the story. My mind exploded. What a wonderful idea for a story to sell to magazines that publish true crime!
One officer was shot in pursuit of a felon, the felon ran, and several officers chased after him on foot. Officer Eubanks, depicted in the picture, was sitting in his police cruiser at a nearby intersection and saw the foot chase coming toward him. He reached for his shotgun stored in a holder, but before he could retrieve it, the felon fired his sawed-off shotgun point-blank. The pellets missed the officer, but one went through the stained glass window of the church.
The officer rolled out of his car, hitting the ground hard. He took cover as the perpetrator ran by and into a dark alley. Officer Eubanks followed. As he entered the alleyway, he heard rustling in the bushes to his right. As he took another step into the alley, the man leaped out of the bushes not more than two feet in front of Eubanks and pulled the trigger of his weapon. The gun jammed. The shooter turned and ran toward the opposite end of the alley.
In front of the fleeing felon, a lone light bulb extended from a tall pole, casting eerie shadows along his path. Officer Eubanks shouted, "Halt or I'll shoot." The man continued to run, then spun around and again raised his weapon. The officer fired his gun. The felon dropped with a bullet in his brain as a clock in the church tower chimed midnight.
The story, written from this idea, was gleaned from a newspaper article and picture. It didn't end up as a short story after all, but will be included in a fiction novel I'm working on. It tells the story of a veteran police officer's life on the mean streets of north Tulsa.
Officer Eubanks, veteran street cop and now a detective for the Tulsa Police Department, is my eldest son. Due to the personal nature of the story, I've had to put time between the event and the writing.
I never know when one of my unicorns will turn out as a short story, article or novel. It is the chase that intrigues the muse. The search for ideas, whether in magazines, newspapers, or from family and friends, provides all the fodder for the stories my creative nature requires.
There are no new stories under the sun, no new ideas. What is new is the perspective the writer brings to the ideas. My unicorns are neither mythical nor rare. They exist all around me waiting to be discovered. In fact, unicorns are grazing on the lawn of every writer. They are impossible to overlook--if you believe in unicorns.
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(Jones is a book critic for The Tulsa World, Tulsa, OK, and The Camden Times, Camden, New York.)
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