Where You Least Expect Them: Story Ideas

The other day, during my roundabout trip to get more stamps (I'm one of those people who still prefers to conduct certain business my mail), I drove past a man on a street corner.

Bearded, with a bandana around his head, a stuffed-full backpack and a dog at his feet, he looked like your every-day drifter.

I had just enough time, as I went through the light, to get a glance at the cardboard sign he held.

time traveler needs $ for a new flux capacitor


I haven't seen that particular sign before, but I've seen others like it.

And that day I said to myself: imagine if it was true.


I find I get a lot of ideas at random moments, in random places, inspired by increasingly random things: the way someone walks, a sentence on a billboard, a holiday window display.

Many of them may never see the light of day. But they do a fine job of shoring up my morgue file and every now and then I have one that sticks with me until it develops into something resembling a story.

What's the most interesting thing (event, person, object) that's sparked an idea where you least expect it?