The Uses of Everyday Misery

For a writer, nothing has to go to waste. Any experience teaches you something useful for your writing. Even everyday misery has it uses.

A few days ago, I had to trade in my cable television box. I wanted one that had a built-in digital video recorder. Of course I had to stand in line to make the switch. A long line. For me, this qualifies as misery. Maybe that makes me a whiner, but standing in line is not pleasant.

However, you can learn a great deal standing in line. (Do you say "in line" or "on line?" I guess it depends on where you live.) My fellow line mates were an interesting conglomerate of individuals. We were young and old; black, white and brown; rich and poor. Well, maybe not rich. Some of us were hyper-fit, and some of us had let ourselves go.

I began to pay attention, looking at how people dressed and trying to understand their personal styles. Where had they bought their clothes? I tuned into the voices around me, paying attention to accents, vocabulary and personal twists of expression. Some people stood alone while others brought friends, lovers or kids.

Before long, I was itching to take out my index cards and begin making notes. However, we were all crowded in a little to close for me to get away with that. But I did begin to make up stories in my mind about some of the people in line. When I got home, I hurried to my writer's notebook and began to describe what I had observed and learned during my 20-minute wait to get a new cable TV box.

You are a writer. Everything is relevant to your calling. Waste nothing.

Where Do You Find Story Ideas?

A woman falls into a hole and has to figure out how to climb out. That's a basic story. Almost all stories are a variant of this basic story. With a protagonist and a problem, you have a story.

Any time you encounter an interesting person, you have the beginnings of a story. If you discover a conflict or a problem, you have the beginnings of a story. The bigger the problem or conflict the more potential your story has. The more appealing, appalling or unusual your protagonist, the more potential your story has.

Story ideas can come from anywhere. Perhaps you ride in an elevator with a very elegantly dressed Middle Eastern man. The children riding with him are blonde and fair. Is there a story there? Probably. A beautiful woman seldom has more than three dates with a man before the relationship sours. Do you have a story to tell? I think so. You read a newspaper article about an accident. A 42-year-old man kills an 11-year-old girl who darts from between parked cars into the path of his speeding car. Yes, we definitely have a story in this case. Your father is extremely critical of your choices in life. According to him, you picked the wrong schools, the wrong career and the wrong mate. Do I have to tell you that there is a story here?

Story ideas are everywhere. Begin to make notes about interesting people and difficult situations. Before long, you will have more than enough story ideas to keep busy.