CONFESSIONS OF A NEWS JUNKIE (OR WHY I NEVER RUN OUT OF IDEAS)

Confession: I am a news junkie. I read several newspapers and news magazines each week. I wake up every morning to Good Morning America. Each evening after dinner, I spend a half hour with Peter Jennings. I’m a devoted fan of 60 Minutes, 20/20, and Dateline.

I have always believed that truth is stranger than fiction, and that belief is reaffirmed every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the evening news. Consequently, for me the news becomes a wonderful source of plots and characters.

For example, the antagonist in one of my single title romantic suspense novels is based on Robert Bennett. He’s the Main Line Pennsylvania financial scam artist who orchestrated the New Era ponzi scheme. Several years ago he defrauded numerous universities and charitable organizations across the country out of millions of dollars. And just to make him a little more interesting, I threw in a dollop of the elusive Robert Vesco. The resulting mix was a deliciously amoral villain.

Great for me, you’re saying, but you don’t write suspense—romantic or otherwise. How are newspaper articles going to help you? I also write single title romance, romantic comedy, mystery and chick lit. And I still find many of my ideas within the pages of my local newspaper—just not necessarily on the front page. I scour the human interest stories, the Lifestyles section, the Op Ed columns, the gossip columns, the advice columns, and even the Letters to the Editor. All are chockfull of ripe ideas just waiting to be plucked off the page.

One of my single title romances is based on the fallout over The Rules. During the time the book appeared on the bestseller lists, every columnist in the country had an opinion on it. I also knew a recently divorced woman who was using the book to snare herself a new husband. She became the idea behind the countless women trying to hook my hero.

Another one of my contemporary romances was based in part on my cousin’s unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization. I coupled her ongoing frustrations with a news account I read about a fertility doctor in Virginia who used his own sperm to fertilize his patients’ eggs.

Ann Landers once published a letter from a Catholic bishop who hated performing weddings. That letter spurred an avalanche of responses from other ministers. According to Ann, it was “the heaviest response since the heated debate on how to hang toilet paper.” Over a two day period, she published some of those responses. Each one held the germ of an idea for a manuscript and/or at least some very interesting scenes and characters.

And then there was the comment from a writer in Los Angeles who wrote that there should be a dress code for brides. The writer described a wedding where the well-endowed bride wore a strapless gown. When the groom grabbed her for the wedding kiss, her breasts popped out of her dress. At some point I’d like to use this, but not for the heroine. I figure such a scenario would be great comeuppance for the bimbo who tried to steal the hero away from the heroine.

I keep a clippings file of columns, articles from newspapers and magazines, and even ads. They include a column by Lawrence Hall about a German study where a research team concluded that ogling women’s breasts can help increase a man’s life expectancy by five years. I have an ad from Road & Track that touts an aftershave guaranteed to increase sexual attractiveness ten-fold. I’ve used both of these in one of my chick lit books.

An article in the New York Times Sunday magazine told the story of a “sexual decoy” who works for Check-a-Mate, a New York company that investigates men and women on behalf of their romantic partners. An article in Glamour detailed the trend of non-sexually impaired young males who take Viagra to increase their sexual stamina. All of these articles and more are filed away as future source material.

So, the next time you find yourself dealing with writer’s block, try this simple exercise: Take a news story or column from that day’s newspaper, and turn it into a romance or romantic suspense. Use the information in the article as the plot, or turn the subject of the article into your hero, heroine, or villain. Build from there. Before you know it, you’ll have the synopsis for your next book.