Where do story ideas come from? Or, there's no shortage of ideas out there!
Michael Haskins
As a writer, I read newspapers and news magazines. It's as mandatory as reading and writing, as far as I'm concerned. I read these periodicals to stimulate ideas. I don't always spend time on the headline stories, but look for the short pieces that carry unusual news. You never know when something strange might kick your imagination into gear. I can read a piece from Alaska and ask myself, "what if, in Key West . . .?"
I also watch TV news, both the Miami channels, CNN and MSNBC.
I watched, as most of the world did, in horror a few years back as the bridge in the Twin Cities collapsed. It was caught, wide angle, on a surveillance camera. It looked like something out of a Bruce Willis Die Hard movie.
Of course, it wasn't entertainment. It was death of innocent men and women and destruction. Today the disaster is still affecting the lives of the people that drove over that bridge to go to work, to go out for dinner, to go on a date, to go home from picking kids up at day care. It is unimaginable.
Or is it?
It was a very visual event, both during and afterward. Maybe, because of the visual affect I thought of the movies instead of a book. I'm sure I am not the only mystery writer who watched the TV footage and wondered what kind of story could be built around the tragedy. It's what we do.
I don't know if I will use the incident, but we do have many bridges – one is seven-miles long – on the ride from Miami to Key West, so the possibility is there. Because of that accident, I follow news stories with reports about the condition of bridges throughout the United States.
An optimist might say the bridge collapse has forced state and federal transportation to look at bridges throughout the country. A pessimist might say it was a warning of our failing infrastructure, an unsolvable problem with the financial condition the country is in. I think most writers are, in their writing, pessimists because that's where the mayhem comes from. Optimists don't often commit mayhem; I don't like to say never. But I think you get my point.
So, is truth stranger than fiction?
I have a family friend who lives in Orlando and doesn't visit because of her phobia of driving over bridges in the Keys. I used to laugh at her phobia. I assumed that our bridges were safe because the government was looking out for our safety! After the collapse in the Twin Cities, the Monroe County government listed a number of bridges in the Keys that were in need of repair. The worst bridge in need of repairs in the county leads from my house to US1 and I drive over it daily. It was recently refitted. How long did that take? I don't even want to think of the other bridges out there, especially as I drive over them monthly on the way to a MWA function.
After the disaster in Minneapolis, I am beginning to wonder if government regulators and agencies do their jobs. Is the FAA really doing its job with the airlines? Traffic controllers? I'm having second thoughts. I don't fly. When I need to go to NYC, I drive and take my time, stopping on the way to see friends. I don't trust the airline management. They cut corners and, I fear, that maintenance is one of those corners. Check something every 100 hours, but now, maybe it's 115 hours. Could that little change be dangerous? Ask Qantas.
I am seriously thinking of driving to Houston and onto Southern California for my book signings. I have not met anyone recently that has flown and didn't have problems that are not worth confronting, as far as I am concerned. I'll drive, thank you.
Imagine a book that's premise is the demise of America through the failure of its infrastructure. Where would you begin it? With the roads and bridges? The airlines? Communications? The legal system?
When I open the morning paper now, my hands shake because what I am seeing is the origins of a great thriller and you and I are characters in it. Congress is inept at best; corrupt, in a worse case, and men and women who have not accomplished anything in years, even though the voting public told them to do something, seem to be in control.
The list goes on and on. I'm sure you can add to it from your city or county. I guess another thing reading and searching through newspapers teaches is that truth is stranger than fiction, it's unbelievable.
Where do your story ideas come from?
