Using the News in Your Writing

Posted by Sarah Turner Feb 17, 2008

There is a tragic news story in our local media. In Tofino, a small coastal community in British Columbia, a seven year old boy has just gone missing. He disappeared during a beach walk with his dad. His dad looked away for two minutes, and when he turned back the boy was gone. Search crews have been combing the area for nearly two days now, still holding out hope that the boy will be found.

I find myself thinking about this boy and his family all the time. As a young mother, I try to imagine how it would feel to be a mother who has lost her son. I find myself wondering specific things: like what conversation did the mother and father have over breakfast on the day their son went missing? What preceded this life-changing moment? What is the boy's favourite colour, favourite toy? Or I think about the rescue workers, woken by a phone call – what life of theirs was interrupted, and what is going through their mind as they search?

Every day there are dozens of these news flash stories, each accompanied for me by a hundred questions about what's not told. To me, that's the stuff of fiction.

There are also bizarre stories, like the recent news on the BC coast of three severed right feet washing ashore over the last six months. Investigators have no idea where they might be coming from. This is straight out of a science fiction or crime novel. The cliché fits: sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Lately, I've started keeping the news clippings that capture my attention. This file is a great resource for when I feel I have nothing to write about. Here's an article with some helpful tips on how to use news events for inspiration.