Finding story inspiration in real life

   
By Christine Verstraete

Every now and then I like to share some thoughts on reading and the writing process.

 For me, writing fiction is always a surprise - I do outline longer works so I have an idea of where I'm going, but things still pop up as I'm writing, or I'll need to take a break and let it stew. Sometimes good ideas come to me in dreams, too. 

When I write short fiction, the ideas usually just come all of a sudden.  Ideas also can be prompted by something I saw, heard or read about as is the case with a recent story I'm finishing.

  Here in Wisconsin there was a terrible case of animal mistreatment - a group of horses rescued that were being starved by two people. And later, investigators uncovered a giant burial ground on their farm with at least 50 or more dead horses.

Horrible. Worse is that these two people are still trying to claim they did nothing wrong.

That case is still winding its way through the legal system, but it's an image that doesn't leave your mind as quickly.

It's been there in the back of my thoughts, I guess, until this story began forming in my mind. A horror story - a perfect setting, I think, for a real life horror story --except in my version there is a more fitting kind of justice...

I'm not saying more until the story is finished, sent out, and accepted somewhere, but I will say it feels good to write something that gives you a feeling of satisfaction on many levels. That's when writing can be fun and is the best part of the process.

** Is there anything you read or heard about that you knew you had to write about, or found its way into your writing? Or have you read something that stuck with you?