Finding Fiction in Real Life

It’s no secret that often times real-life events give us great plots for stories—or at least a piece of a story. Let me give you an example.

The setting: New England, just a week before Christmas. It’s bitter cold, the grounds are covered with snow, and the deer are overabundant. Well, minus one that had just been hit by a vehicle—my vehicle, driven by my husband.

The day after our car was towed to the repair shop, hubby and I drove to where we would pick up the rental car waiting for us. Except, the car wasn’t there. Apparently, they called us to tell us it wouldn’t be available until the next day. Discouraged and angry, we trekked the icy roads back home to wait for the next day. As we drove, my blood started to boil. Why would the insurance company tell us the car was ready? And the nerve of the clerk to tell us he called. I was home all day. The answering machine had no messages, and the phone only rang once, when the insurance agent called.

My writer’s brain kicked into gear. What if we called the rental company and told the manager that the clerk lied to us to cover his own mistakes? Rabbit hole time. The manager would then talk to the employee, and, after hearing the same lies, would fire the clerk. After all, if you want to run a successful company, you can’t have liars working for you.

What the manager didn’t know, however, was that the employee needed this job. His wife couldn’t work and was expecting their first child any day. He needed the money as well as the health insurance, with the complications her pregnancy had caused. Christmas was fast approaching, and now with no job and a baby on the way, how would they survive?

Great stories are all around us. It might be something that happened to you, like my story above, and all you need to do is follow that trail. It might be from a conversation you hear from others around you in the grocery store. Or possibly something that happened at work or school. Wherever you find yourself this holiday season, switch on those listening ears and open those creative eyes. You just might find the plot to your next story.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!