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Put It In A Book: There are story ideas everywhere
I’m not quite sure when it happened, but I seem to have gotten a reputation among my writer friends. We all write novels of various genres, and we are all looking for brilliant inspiration.
Luckily for us novelists, inspiration is everywhere.
When one of them is telling a story or anecdote that makes us laugh or cringe or stare in disbelief, I declare, “Put it in a book!” (to the point that the storyteller will proactively say, “Yes, Amy, I’m putting it in a book. Don’t worry.”)
Anything can be inspiration for a book.
ANYTHING.
If we go by that adage ‘show don’t tell,’ anything that you can observe someone else doing is showing you aspects of their character. Anything that you see them doing is a choice that is showing you what they might be dealing with (their own personal plot).
Example: I noticed my friend always turns on lights by reaching through the top of the lampshade for the switch. I hadn’t the slightest idea why. It has never occurred to me to turn on a light that way. When I asked him about it, he had to think about it too.
Finally, we realized … He’s a giant. He’s 6'4". He’s always been tall, and tends to always see lamps (and most other things) from the top down.
