Story Ideas Are Everywhere

I have told other writers much the same thing as our quote today by the novelist, essayist and public speaker, Orson Scott Card. He is a man who must walk through life observing others and looking for a storyline. 

How many times have you heard a writer say I want to write but I just don't have an idea for a new story and you nod in agreement.? There are stories everywhere! What you need to do is train yourself to use your 'writer's eye' as you move through your daily activities, your travels and visits to family or friends. 

When you walk through your grocery store aisles, you pass many people. Do you look through them or at them? To develop your writer's eye, you must look at them. Then do a mental questioning to get a glimmer of what their story might be. Will you ever know for sure? Probably not. The important thing is to observe and see if there could possibly be a story there. 

When you see a mother interacting with three children trying to shop and keep control of the little ones at the same time, you might find a storyline. How is she handling the situation? With grace and style or as a harassed mother of three crying children? Does her frustration show or does she keep total control of herself? 

The mother is only one of many people you see on your grocery shopping expedition. You might pass a college student filling his basket with Ramen Noodles--cheap meals for a struggling student. How about the elderly couple moving slowly from aisle to aisle helping one another? You could pass an obese woman whose basket is filled with all the wrong kind of food. 

You might not find a full story but you can certainly catalog the people you see in your mental file as possible characters to use later. Conversely, you might witness a full story in a grocery store with two or more people involved. The next time you do your grocery shopping, look at the people you pass. 

Walk through the park or on a walking trail and you're bound to come up with an idea or two for a story or essay. Many years ago, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of nature that I witnessed on an early morning walk. As soon as I reached home, I sat down and wrote an essay on the same. 

There are stories to be found in your workplace, sporting events or shows you attend, even on Sunday morning at a church service. Consider a newspaper reporter. He/she is looking for stories wherever he/she goes. They become very keen at nosing out a story. Fiction writers and essayists and poets can do the same. One day, a few years ago, I was out walking and noticed an old man in baggy pants walking ahead of me with a companion/nurse. I knew there was a story in the making. Later in the day, I wrote a poem titled "Old Man In Baggy Pants." What else? I could have just walked by and not given him a thought but I used my writer's eye and my writer's mind to come up with a story about him.

The point here is that you can train yourself to find story ideas wherever you go. When you see people or a situation, play the What if...? game to help you get started. There will be times that you see a full story in front of you but sometimes it might be just the start of a story and you'll have to finish it with your creativity. 

Remember to look "at" people, not "through" them.