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What in the World Will I Write About?

© Kim Kay

"Defeat is a fact and victory can be a fact. If the idea is good, it will survive defeat, it may even survive the victory." - Steven Vincent Benet

The short answer to that question is anything you are either knowledgeable about or interested in enough to do the research. Ideas are everywhere. Anything you read, see, or hear is a potential story. The difficult part is developing your idea into a publishable novel. Below are some of the many sources of ideas for novels. I suggest you use this as a foundation on which to build your own sources as you discover them.

Ideas from Experience

Personal experience is the easiest place to get ideas. You are already knowledgeable about the subject, and you should be better able to express the emotions associated with the event. But what if nothing interesting has happened to you yet? No problem. You can use someone else's experience. Consider the many anecdotes told to you by friends, family, acquaintances and strangers. Talking to people is a wonderful source of information. You might also want to schedule informal "interviews" with people you know. The elderly, especially, can be counted on to give you a wealth of information and ideas.

Ideas from the Media

Newspaper and Magazine articles can provide an unlimited amount of story ideas. In both, you will find a number of human interest stories which can be developed into novels. In addition, many of the features and current events can be fictionalized and used to plot your novel. The regular features such as Dear Abby, Letters to the Editor, and even the Classifieds are other places to look.

Other media sources include: television, movies, radio, pamphlets, short stories and novels. Obviously, due to copyright laws, you cannot copy the works of others directly, but you can get ideas from them. For example, you just watched THE WIZARD OF OZ and really enjoyed the subplot of the cowardly lion searching for courage. In your novel, your central character could be a man or woman who was lacking in confidence or courage. This person would need an obstacle to overcome, challenging his or her lack of courage, and other, smaller obstacles along the way. The resolution would come with his or her success or failure and how the event(s) changed the character. Add in other characters, subplots and setting, and you have the beginnings of a new novel based on an old idea.

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