My friends often tease me about a little fact I shared at a gathering we had once; the cockroach, I informed them, can live nine days without its head.
Well I thought it was interesting. I often say “I’m filled with useless information” but if you find that you need to know how long a cockroach can live without its head…well, now you know.
I find lots of things interesting, and its that voracious curiosity that often leads me to story ideas.
Stephan King suggests the question “What if…?” when coming up with ideas for stories.
I also ask other questions or find things curious and must read up on the topic. A story I was writing dealt with some character who worked as agents. I was curious about guns, and happened up on this topic where it shows a few gun mistakes some writers make.
I also found information on autopsy procedures, some information on various poisons, and even forensic tips and things on mental illness….all for my story. Half of which I ended up on even using.
But I love the learning process. It’s all so fascinating. It often sparks tons of ideas for sci-fi, fantasy, and even horror stories. If only I had time to get them all to paper.
What odd little facts do you know? What sort of research have you done for stories? Leave in comments below.
Prompt: use the picture below for a story or poem.
