How to Pull the Perfect Story from Imperfect Headlines

A politician once declared "Never let a good crisis go to waste."

That means in times of trouble, or in emergencies, you may have more leverage and opportunity to do things you want to do or to enact things you think are either important or will benefit your constituency.... or your own pocket. :)

Writers are different. Writers see or hear a story and the questions that run through their minds are the "What if?" of a situation... 

What if he doesn't check that rearview mirror as he drives away?

What if she decides to keep the baby and raise her as her own?

What if the house doesn't land on the witch's sister when it sails to Oz?

I've asked several amazing authors to give us ideas for how they winnow stories from headlines. Here's New York Times bestselling author Linda Goodnight's thoughts:

Many of my books are sparked by everyday news stories or a human interest story within a crisis (not the actual crisis). For me, there is no method. I'm sorry. I wish I had ten easy steps, but alas, I am a touchy-feely writer. it's all about how the event or someone in that event makes me feel. Does some portion of the story move me? Will my readers also relate to it on an emotional level? Can I create characters and a book around that kernel of an idea? I am a born fixer, so my desire to create a happy ending for the real people in those news reports gets me searching for a plot that will "fix" the situation (if only in a fictional sense).

The Honey Ridge Novels, for example, all started from one tragic news story of a child missing for many years.  Another time, I heard a news report of a young single mother seeking a family for her children because she was dying. Oh! Can you imagine? I could, at least a little, because that's what writers do. We imagine. I cried for her and those babies, and from that emotion and her unthinkable situation, came the basic premise for the Last Bridge Home. Everything, for me, hinges on the emotion in an event, and then my "what if" mind starts spinning. 

Socially distant hugs from the Okie!

And here is the question posed to award-winning, USA Today Bestselling multi-published author Margaret Daley:

But as an author, how do you pull stories from headlines or crises? Is there a method? Or is it simply inspiration? 

It is inspiration and what I'm passionate about. I've written about human trafficking before but last fall I felt I needed to write another book about what is going on in the US and the world. Missing is about child (sex) trafficking and was one of the hardest books I wrote. There is a lot of it going on, and we need to do something about stopping it.

Take care and stay safe,

Margaret

And USA TODAY Bestselling author Debby Giusti agreed to come on board with her thoughts on this, too.


When I wrote my second book for Love Inspired Suspense, I wove the plot around a nefarious doctor who was harvesting organs and selling them on the black market. Unbeknownst to me, my editor’s father was the head of US organ transplants in the Northeast, and he insisted no such activity could or would take place in the US. As you may have guessed, I had to rework the story. Thankfully, just days earlier, I had watched a news report about folks in the US who traveled to foreign locations where they could not only procure organs more quickly—and cheaply—but they could also have their surgeries done within a few days of their arrival in the country. The travelers were called “transplant tourists” because they often went sightseeing until their organs were available. Soon after surgery, the tourists returned to the US, but without the patients being under a doctor’s care, what seemed like a lifesaver to many often resulted in life-threatening complications. I rewrote my story and included the transplant tourist racket. SCARED TO DEATH released in 2007 and won the Daphne du Maurier Award for Inspirational Suspense the following year.

And then there's my take on this, to wrap it up.

We're not politicians. We don't look at a crisis or a tragedy or a disaster and wonder how we can tip the boat our way...

We look at that situation and think "How can I make this better? How can I fix this?" In my bestselling, award-winning Wishing Bridge series,  I wanted three women with tragic pasts, three old friends, to have to reconvene a dozen years later just in time to re-examine their choices... and I used an unwed mother to do it. It's a tale as old as time, a woman alone, in her hour of need.

People relate to people. We feel for them, and when authors look at a crisis, they don't see dollar signs.

They see hearts and souls.

What are some of your favorite books or series, things that really touched you or stayed with you? Leave a comment below to win a surprise pack of books!