Getting ideas from local news

Local newspapers and websites can be a great source of material.
I read a few local newspaper's websites also use the BBC for wider news reading.
Headlines such as 'Owner of mystery fingertip sought' can't help but catch ones attention.



What I do is scan the headline links and make notes of any interesting ones that I might use,
and jot a few notes down before I read the article. This ensures I write about my thoughts
on the matter rather than those of the people involved.



The BBC's Most Emailed and Most Read feeds are useful for this too I find. The content on these two links changes throughout the day as people wake up and read, or, email their friends about, articles they have found on the BBC news service.



Woman jailed for testicle attack spent weeks on the Most Emailed page earlier this year. This, despite the fact the original article dates from February 2005.



I'd suggest that those of a nervous disposition don't read the testicle article....oh boy!



Use a notepad, a Word document, Google notebook, whatever, it doesn't matter, just get the ideas down and then flesh them out.
Novelists are not geniuses. They just do these simple things.