I steal ideas
A friend told me his head is full of stories but lacks the chops to get them down on paper. He wondered aloud if someone would be willing to write them down for him and craft them into books, at which point his wife said, “You’re not a writer. You’re just source material.”
She was right.
While I wouldn’t want to ghostwrite any of his books, I’d be happy to steal anything he might have and use it in a book.
I’m always advising writers to keep their eyes open for interesting and unique moments in life that might eventually find their way into a story, which often come from other people’s ideas and stories.
The odd, quirky, or inexplicable moments always capture my eye. These ideas might sit in my decades-old “Ideas” document for months or years, waiting to find a spot in a novel, magazine column, or even a marketing campaign. But I treasure each one, waiting for the moment when I can bring them to life and spin them in my own special way.
I’m often asked by writers, readers, and business clients how I always seem to have a new idea, or even better, an idea that solves a problem. While some ideas are admittedly born from somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I think many are found via my willingness to listen carefully, ask many questions, and record what I hear.
The ideas are out there, just waiting for you to pluck them from the vine and cling to them like the precious resources they are.
Three ideas recently added to my idea document include:
Ideas #1: A student told me that her grandfather made his wife sit in the car’s backseat so the dog could sit in the front seat with him.
Idea #2: I recently met a justice of the peace who is also a used car salesman. He was passing out his dealership business cards to prospective brides and grooms, simply adding the letters JP after his name. In lieu of a brochure or pamphlet on his services, he was tearing out a one-page story from a bridal magazine on the use of justices of the peace in weddings. The article did not mention him specifically but featured a photograph of him officiating a wedding ceremony. He was scribbling his name, address, and phone number on this page, describing it as his “literature on the business.”
I could base an entire book on this guy.
Idea #3: A girl who vaguely knows my sister told her boss that my sister was dead after she was hit by a car crossing the highway on foot. The accident was real, but my sister survived the accident (barely). But the girl in question knew that a report of the accident had appeared in the local paper, listing my sister in critical condition. She simply advanced that condition from critical to expired a couple of days later and asked for two weeks of paid leave to grieve for my injured but very much alive sister.
Months later, she attempted to take more paid leave, explaining that Christmas was approaching and her grief for her lost friend was returning with the holiday season. The thought of my sister’s children celebrating without a mother, she said, was too much to bear.
Suspicious, the girl’s place of business tracked down my sister, called her, and confirmed that she was still alive, thus foiling the girl’s plan for a paid Christmas vacation and resulting in her termination.
These three ideas will likely find their way into something I write someday.
Looking for ideas?
Listen. Ask questions. Record.
Plenty of ideas exist in the world, just waiting to be found.
