Need a jump start sometimes to get started? Or maybe you have part of a plot but need inspiration to flesh it out? Sometimes I just want something different.
Ideas are everywhere.
The best one for me is to people watch. Not only can you pick up character traits – you can invent stories about people you see. Why is that lady in the big floppy hat so sad looking? Or that lady half dragging that child down the street - What would that child be thinking about? Or what about that cute couple that are so in love looking? Could it be a man and his young mistress and they are planning the demise of his wife so that they can be together?
Sometimes bits of overheard conversation can cause some inspiration. The best one I heard was when a man described Christmas as “almost finished with the marathon”. It brought to mind all of the stress and hurriedness that isn’t what we want. Tempers can fly with overspending. A husband could lose it and hurt his wife. it could be a planned murder…
Another idea is to click on advanced search on your Google browser. It brings up a page where you can put in words that you would like to have links to. I think I used murder, homicide and mystery. I get a google alert everyday with links using those words. It brings up news articles, blogs and books. I’ve gotten some good ideas while looking through the articles. I especailly like the older cold cases. They have more details to work from. I don’t use the case the way it is because I’m not a True Crime writer. But I use ideas from it and mix it with other ideas to make my own plot.
Another idea is to do a google search for “missing persons”, “unsovled mysteries” or “unidentified people”. The only problem with looking through these sites is it tends to make me sad to see so many hurting families out there.
Where do you get your ideas from?
