"Life Creating Art"

       Hello Fellow Writers:
   One question that often comes up among beginning writers is; "Where do you get your ideas from?"
   Well, I think every writer can probably give you a different answer to that question.  I think that leaves many new writers scratching their heads trying to figure out the labyrinth of answers they receive.  The reality is that there really is no definitive answer.  I guess the most accurate explanation is that story ideas come from life.
   Okay, now let me explain.  Though I can't answer for other writers, since I obviously can't get inside their heads, I can only answer for myself.
   First and foremost I get my ideas from the labyrinth inside my head.  Unfortunately I come up with more ideas than I would ever be able to write about.  Some of these snippets are notated while others just lose themselves in the folds of my mind again.  Generally these ideas are of characters and their backgrounds and what types of stories I'd like to place them in.  Sometimes a whole story will reveal itself but usually it's just the characters.
   As to the stories themselves I just look to life and the things that I see or hear about.  I regularly engage in a variety of activities so there is no shortage of ideas to which I am exposed.  My hobbies alone supply tons of story fodder.  Here are a few examples.
  1.) A couple years ago there was a plethora of tiny moths that invaded the area of our front porch to gather under the glow of the porch light.  For days they gathered to a point where I began noticing how their numbers had perpetuated night-after-night.  Then, after a couple days I noticed they began dropping off the house as they died.  Within a few days they were all dead.  That got me thinking about a story where a planet depends on these little moths to pollinate their crops.  Some force is attracting the moths away from the plants and killing them, thus threatening to destroy the following years crop.  I had come up with a couple characters a couple years prior and, looking back on my notes, figured they would be perfect for the story.
2.)  During a hurricane (well the outer bands of one anyway) I was stuck in a parking lot as the rain pelted my car.  Through the window I noticed the arcing of a nearby telephone pole where the wire's come together with a metal connector.  I watched as the blue light produced danced around the metal connector every time the wind picked up.  Then I shut off the car and subsequently the windshield wipers as well.  Watching the dancing blue light with a constant flood of water streaming down the windshield gave a completely new perspective of the phenomenon.  They now looked like aliens gliding along our power lines, using them for both transport and cover.  Thus, another story born.
3.)  A couple years ago we were scouting an area for a place to film.  It was an area where a friend of mine hunted snakes on occasion.  Well, no snakes were found, but there were several skeletons (well, 3-4 anyway) scattered around the small field.  There had been a drought and it looked like fishing birds had fed heavily from the pond at the center of the field as the water level dropped.  There was still some water in the pond.  Scattered around the area were some exposed, smooth worn coral rocks that had the appearance of space rock.  The gears were grinding and a story concerning a remote landing of a creature from space began to take shape.
4.)  Just the other day, while driving through the neighborhood, I came across a herd (for lack of a better word) of White Ibis wandering the yards in search of small land snails which make up part of their diet.  I've seen them before but this time I looked at them with a different set of eyes.  They now reminded me of  a herd (now you know why I thought of that word instead of flock) of feathered dinosaurs tracking down their quarry, possibly a group of time travellers trapped in a prehistoric world.
   Well those are just four examples of how the things around me have influenced ideas for stories.  So the next time you're in need of an idea just get up from the computer and go outside.  Allow life to show you the path to many story ideas.
   Have a wonderful Day of Writing!!!
   The "Creature"