Where do story ideas come from?

People ask me all the time, “Where do your story ideas come from?”

My answer? “Everywhere.”

That’s partially true. But ideas are like ingredients in a big recipe that all work together. They have to marinate with each other and occasionally you toss in some of that spiced pepper “just because” you wanted to see how it would flavor the soup.

Many news stories, particularly the ridiculous ones like those mentioned in the Huffington Post, are complete fodder for fiction ideas. So is any kind of special on the History, Nature, News channels on TV.

Someone mentioned there is a place on Earth where there is a higher population of twins than anywhere else. This is a documented fact. Take that bit of info and see how many places you can go with it!

1. Is there something in the water?

2. Is there a supernatural phenomena going on?

3. Is there a hidden ancient culture of people who produce twins? What happens when the twins grow up? Are they stronger than anyone else in their village?

And you just keep adding, flavoring, marinating until a storyline starts to form.

More tomorrow!