Spamming Your Plot by Andy Scheer

If you're desperate for ideas for your next novel—or just want an instant writing prompt—I just noticed a free, self-renewing fount of potential plot elements, characters, and complications.

Even better, you can find this source on your own computer. Just check your email spam filter.

I was about to delete all 24 spam emails that had accumulated since morning. Then I realized the potential for an instant fiction scenario.

It begins with the first bit of spam: something about “this shocking government secret [that] will ruin thousands of lives.” What's the secret? I have no clue, but I can browse down the list of other subject lines for its possible identity. Maybe it has something to do with sinister side effects from spam #8: “Neat Trick Permanently Removes Herpes.” Or maybe spam #6: “Obama Student Loan Forgiveness Program Notice.” Or spam #12: “New Vapor Diet System.” (Didn't Stephen King already do something with a system to “melt fat” that did too good a job?)

Don't want to write a medical/government conspiracy thriller? If your spam folder is like mine, you still have lots of free ideas. Maybe your protagonist's surprise love interest installs windows (“Your window-replacement installation-specials notification”). And your protagonist? Here's one candidate: “Hello. My name is Lena. I am lonely woman, 32 years old.” What does she do for a living? See spam #20, “How to start a woodworking business.”

Unfortunately, Lena's headed for trouble, thanks to these spams:

“Notice: Your Background Has Been Searched”

“Alert: Your Automotive Warranty might be Out-of-Date”

“Attn: Neighborhood Child-Predator Risk Alert: 16449865”

That's the hazard of being a character in a scenario generated by spam. At least, besides her romance with the window-installer, lonely Lena does have some good news in store:

“All-New-Trick to shed-27lbs in Just-1-Month”

“You have $148 in Walmart Points: Claim-today before they expire.”

Do you doubt the impending peril of expiring Walmart Points is strong enough to act as your ticking clock? Don't worry, just wait for the shocking secrets in your next batch of spam.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas? by Andy Scheer

That's the question people always ask writers.

“If you ask a writer who has heard that same question dozens of times,” novelist Elizabeth Peters said, “she may come back with some snappy answer like, 'There's a drugstore in North Dakota where I order mine.'”

“The only possible answer,” Peters said, “is 'Everywhere.' You don't get ideas; you see them, recognize them, greet them familiarly when they amble up to you.”

Thanks to websites eager to offer quirky news, you can even receive daily updates that might contain the kernel for a work of fiction.

Since this idea involves an older Corvette, I saw it a week ago on the Hemmings Motor News daily blog. But later it popped up on other websites.

The tale involves crime, the legal system, the insurance industry, perceived injustice, and expensive cars: all ingredients that may click with people.

Back in 1972, Terry Dietrich of DeKalb County, Georgia, bought herself a new Corvette: blue with a T-top. Just six months later, it was stolen. While Allstate paid Dietrich's claim, the loss remained a sore spot.

Early this year, a car dealer in North Carolina bought a blue 1972 Corvette from a woman whose husband had recently died. But the dealer saw something fishy in the car's registration number and did some digging. Turns out the car had once been Dietrich's. North Carolina police impounded it.

But Dietrich can't get it back. Back in 1972 she was making monthly car payments and never had the Corvette's title. After all those years, Allstate can't find the title. Neither can the State of Georgia.

But without a legal title or a court order, North Carolina police can't release the Corvette. So it sits in a warehouse sealed with yellow tape awaiting an eventual auction – or the intrepid action of a fictional detective.

One great thing about fiction. You as a writer can do whatever you want with any or all of those elements. Transpose the stolen Corvette to a stolen invention, a stolen necklace, a stolen birthright – and move the characters to another culture, another century, even another world.

“Ideas are the cheapest part of writing,” Jane Yolen said. “They are free. The hard part is what you do with the ideas you've gathered.”

What have you gathered recently?