When I first started writing, I kept a file filled with oddball articles from the newspaper that might be fodder for a story: "929 gallons of moonshine found under Kentucky shed", that sort of thing. After I started writing my novel, I focused on 1938 Germany and stopped collecting ideas from other times or places.
As I prep for this Young Writers workshop in a couple of weeks, I'm revisiting the article collection idea. Writers of all ages need inspiration and real life gives it. Take this headline from the Scranton Times: "Fingerprint reveals daVinci piece". It seems a 19th century German artist was given credit for an unsigned portrait of a woman, and it had been in the hands of collectors and art dealers for years. The current owner asked a forensic expert to identify the fingerprint and palm print still visible on the painting and the match was made: Leonardo daVinci. That took the value of the piece from $19,000 to $150 million. I could make that up, but the fact that it's real makes it completely cool.
I bet the third graders will love stories like that. I'll bring my collection to share with them and encourage them to collect some too.
It's so true... truth gives you far more leeway to be really out there. If some thing occurs in fiction people will say 'that couldn't happen' but if it DID happen, you have a weapon to throw back...
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