There was a recent tragedy in my state,
perpetrated by a reportedly “sane” man. The court is waiting for
evaluation results for good measure.
Regardless of what the state
determines, the suspect has an interesting story on the "why" of his
crime. As soon as I heard his explanation, my writer brain took off
with a potential story line along a paranormal/conspiracy
theory/mystery twisted line. At first I felt bad, getting a story
idea off of a tragedy even though I often borrow pieces of real life
to incorporate into some of my stories. Then I decide, what the heck,
and asked some friends what they thought.
I got an interesting mix of responses
back. Some people thought it was totally inappropriate to write up a
story that was inspired by such an evil act. Others told me they
thought Stephen King may have already done a story along the same
line, only a few thought I should go ahead and tackle the storyline,
thinking I might be able to have an interesting take on it.
When I read that Stephen King may have
already done something similar, it started me wondering. Where does
King get his inspiration? Are they from inappropriate places, such as
real life evil doing or do they just come to him like many of my
other characters do? Then I really began to wonder, how many other
writers may get their ideas from “inappropriate” sources of
inspiration – whether it be personal tragedy, global tragedy, or
local tragedies perpetrated by humans – and whether or not they
feel guilty or bad for basing a story off of a real life event.
I'm still debating whether or not to
write up the story line. I have notes jotted down and luckily I have
more than enough WIPs in the queue that I need ot work on that I can
let it sit for awhile before making a decision.
So here's my big question: is it
“normal” to feel uneasy about a story idea that jumps out at you
from today's headlines? How would you, as a reader, feel if you
throughly enjoyed a story that you discover is based off of a
real-life tragedy?
