Ideas-o-matic

Many of my short story ideas are from weird news. Reuters assembles all their weirdest news of the day on a site called “Oddly Enough,” and it’s a treasure trove of story ideas. I often don’t even click on the links to read the story. The headlines can be all the information I need to get started. After all, I don’t want to retell the news, I want to tell a new story. 

Here’s 10 ideas I grabbed this month:

1. Headline: “'Free meat for a year' offered in JBS U.S. vaccine sweepstakes”

   1. Three months into an all-meat diet, your protagonist is already feeling pretty terrible. Worst of all, his friends won’t stop coming over for impromptu barbeques.

2. Headline: “Austrian gets shock of his life as python bites him on the toilet.”

   1. Truly this is a horror story ready-made. But what if it was actually a love story?

3. Headline: “Australian scientist speaks to frogs, fears their silence”

   1. “Fears their silence” is genius. I am hooked. What did they use to say?!

4. Headline: “Russia picks cast for movie to be shot in space.”

   1. What is this casting process like? 

5. Headline: “Stockings and a bloodied cloth for auction on Napoleon’s bicentenary”

   1. I actually did click on this one to see if it is his blood. It is. Other highlights include a lock of Napoleon’s hair and a long-sleeved shirt monogrammed with an “N.” Am I the only one who thinks that whoever buys these items might start acting a little funny?

6. Headline: “Meet the man in a bear suit walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco.”

   1. What terrible mistakes did this man make in his life to end up here, doing this?

7. Headline: “‘Angriest Octopus’ lashes out at a man on Australia beach.”

   1. I’d be angry too if you’d seen what this guy tried to do. 

8. Headline: “Meet the woman shaping post-pandemic cybersex.”

   1. Ok!

9. Headline: “Stuntman soaks in bean dip for 24 hours to save favorite restaurant.”

   1. What’s it like to be married to this man? What was his partner doing at 3am while Gary neck deep in bean dip? That’s who I want to know about.

10. Here’s a funny two-parter. On March 11, 2021, there’s this headline: “And they say romance is dead: Ukranian couple handcuff themselves together.” then on June 19, 2021, there’s this: “Ukraine’s inseparable couple ditches the handcuffs and parts ways.”

    1. Apparently the stunt to save their on-again off-again relationship “brough home uncomfortable truths.” Oooh, like what?!