One of the best ways to gather ideas for a creative project is to watch and listen carefully to the people you encounter in everyday life. As Mister Rogers would say, “Who are the people in your neighborhood?”

Some people travel deep into their imagination to look for good ideas. Others simply step out their front door and observe the people and situations around them. Whether you want to write a story, a play, a poem, or a comedy skit, there is plenty of raw material to be found in nearly every human interaction. Below are some actual nuggets picked up over the course of a single week. Any of these could be used as the seed of a good story. Have you heard anything today that sparked your creativity?

Observed

  • A woman with sky blue eye shadow and a sky blue jacket.
  • A young couple that sleeps between an empty brick building and the row of tall bushes that run alongside it.
  • An entire family of recently toppled gravestones.
  • A server with no short-term memory who refuses to write anything down.
  • A man who doesn’t clean up after his dog and leaves his neighborhood littered with enormous piles of dog poop.
  • A frisbee sticking out of a snowbank next to a pile of frozen candy.
  • A man who carries everything he owns in a filthy camouflage backpack.
  • A toddler pretending he can read.
  • Hundreds of crows gathering at sunset on the tallest trees in town.

Overheard

  • “If he had just paid that bill on time, none of this would have happened.”
  • “The last time I was here, I was five years old. I honestly didn’t think I would ever come back.”
  • “You never know when the person sitting next to you is thinking about killing themself.”
  • “I’ll take one for here and three to go. Actually, make that three for here and one to go.”
  • “He handed me a ticket and said, ‘Tell your sister I miss her.’”
  • “I’ll never see snow like this again.”

Whether you are a writer, an illustrator, or just someone looking for a fun, creative outlet, a foolproof way to generate ideas is to create backstories for the things you encounter in the course of a completely average day. No fireworks required⏤just curiosity and close observation.

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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