A young relation once asked me where I found my story ideas. He was thinking of going into journalism at university. He was good at writing, but only when given an assigned topic. He had no idea where to begin, where to find his own story ideas. My answer? Look around you. Listen. Read current affairs. Everything in this world has the potential of becoming a story.

There are lots of story ideas in the news. I used to read the daily newspaper, cover to cover. Now, I browse the news feed on various pages online. Twitter and Facebook, though usually used for social news, are full of ideas. For example:

- a wolverine invades a public beach – might inspire a story about wolves adopting children and raising them as their own; or a story of a lost wolf and how he (or she) finds his (her) way home; or, how about a story where the wolves take over the world? (perhaps a bit far-fetched, but the idea is to let your imagination take flight).

- a plane crashes in a lake and disappears with all on board – might inspire a story of an underwater world, or a story of aliens kidnapping humans (plane and all).

- a gold nugget is found on the shores of Lake Erie – might spark a story of another gold rush; or a story of smugglers who lost their loot.

- a man was recently caught putting arrow decals on the floor of a large department store to direct customer traffic in random circles, never approaching the exit – oh boy! There could be a really scary story here – evil beings at work.

- a family wakes up to find a full-grown moose in their swimming pool – let the imagination go ‘wild’ (no pun intended) on this one.

The possibilities are endless. Randomly choose a lead story or a line from a story or even a word or a photograph and see where your imagination leads you.

Other sources of ideas include local news (television, online, community papers, even word of mouth). It might be a word, a sentence, an event – stories are all around us. Everyone and everything is a potential story. We all have stories to share, stories to spark new ideas in a writer’s creative mindset.

Still stumped? Well, there are online sites that will give you first sentences, hopefully, to inspire you to start a story. Or, even a last sentence, so you know where you’re headed. Here are some first sentences to consider:

- My search took me to the tomb of the unknown soldier and another clue.

- I am sure that I have returned to my time and place, but all I see are two shadows and mammoth blocks of snow.

- The floodwaters have receded and the soil is chapped, scarred with great crevices that fall deep into the earth.

- I won!

Listen. The best source of story ideas is people. Listen to others speaking around you, people talking to you. Listen to music. Story ideas can come from the music you listen to. Study photographs and other works of art – there’s a story in every picture, sculpture, or artifact. Remember the saying, “every picture is worth a thousand words”? Make it come true.

Still stumped? Choose a word, preferably a proper noun. Make a bubble map and list in every bubble connected to the noun words that can somehow be associated with the proper noun you chose. Once you complete this exercise, write a descriptive paragraph, describing your proper noun. Now incorporate it into a story.

As for my wanna-be family member who couldn’t think up a story idea? He dropped out of creative writing and now drives a truck for a local distillery. The sad thing is, he doesn’t realize all the story material he’s encountering on a daily basis: people he talks to, the places where he makes his deliveries, other drivers on the roads. The list of possible ideas is all around him; it’s all around all of us.