Ripped from the Headlines: Get Your Best Story Ideas from the Morning News by Lori L. Tharps

Hi Girlfriends,

So, we've been talking about coming up with good story ideas and I have a few things to add to the discussion. First and foremost, I'd like to say that my kids provide me with an endless supply of things to write about, both as a magazine journalist and a fiction writer. As a mother of three, I have a rich fantasy life about live-in help, luxurious vacations, and spa-days. If I ever find the time to pen another novel, it might have all of those elements in it because it's clear I won't be experiencing them in my real life. (sigh)

The idea for my first novel, Substitute Me, did actually come from my own trauma surrounding the search for the perfect nanny. I never found one, but the protagonist in the book does and drama ensues. These days, given the fact that my life seems to be on a permanent replay of work, feed the baby, laundry, grade papers, repeat, I'm not feeling another domestic drama. But that's okay.

When I'm not on duty as a human cow, I teach journalism to college students. This semester I'm teaching a class called Ripped from the Headlines: Using Journalism's Tools to Write Fiction. One of the main things I'm teaching my students to do, is scour the news media to find great story ideas. Because we all know that truth really is stranger than fiction. For example, my students just handed in an assignment where they had to research a recent story they discovered in the news that they thought would translate well into fiction. I received a slew of great stories -- from a female PhD candidate in chemical engineering who moonlights as a dominatrix, to a man who was rescued from a deadly shark attack by a group of friendly dolphins. Besides the fact that I felt like I must be living under a rock for not knowing about some of the more outrageous stories, I felt completely smart for creating this class.

A person doesn't have to go any further than their local paper to come up with clever, intriguing, unbelievable story ideas that they can spin into an amazing work of fiction. From natural disasters like the horrific earthquake and tsunami in Japan, to the recent lottery winner who is 85 years old, dramatic stories happen every day. This is not to make light of or profit from other people's misery. On the contrary, sometimes by unraveling the truth in fiction, we can give tragedy a happier ending, or at least sort out some of the complicated feelings involved. I just read such a book, the bittersweet Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron, which revisits the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

So, rather than 'writing what you know' or wracking your brain for creative ideas that may or may not be in there, open a People magazine and get inspired.

Lori L. Tharps is a magazine writer, college professor and mom. She blogs at MyAmericanMeltingpot.com.

Write What You Know, But Don't Stop There!

Writers and wanna-be writers are always told 'write what you know' and that old adage has always worked for me. I’ve written three books – two non-fiction and one novel – and all three have been inspired by my own life experiences. Heck, the second book, Kinky Gazpacho, is all about my life experiences, it’s a freakin’ memoir. It’s not that I think my little world is so completely fascinating, but the things that happen to me are the things that obviously consume most of my time and attention, so obviously it’s as good a place as any to come up with story ideas.

That being said, there’s a big difference between, 'the book was inspired by my own life and the book is about my life,'especially when it comes to fiction. Readers often get the two confused. And I admit, I’m as guilty as the next person in reading into a novelist’s work, trying to figure out what part of the main character is really the author working through her own issues. A lot of readers ask me which of the main characters in my novel, Substitute Me, do I most relate to. Clearly, they really want to know if the African-American nanny is actually me. She’s not. Not by a long shot. In fact, of the two main characters in the book, I identify a lot more with the White woman who employs the nanny. See readers, I threw you off with the race swap thing. Ha!!

But seriously, my agent gave me the greatest compliment when she read the first draft of Substitute Me and said, “I’m so proud of you. This book is so not about you.” I was thrilled that I was able to create two unique characters that really were creations of my own imagination. And that’s where we get back to the difference between inspired by and about. I can freely admit that the germ of the story in Substitute Me – exploring the relationship between a working woman and the woman she hires to be her domestic replacement – came from my own experience trying to find the perfect nanny to care for my newborn son. (True confession, I gave up the hunt, quit my job and worked from home for many years.) I often wondered how other women managed to make that relationship work, how they juggled the guilt and freedom having a nanny provided. And soon enough, a story began to take shape in my mind that answered those questions for me. Ten years later, Substitute Me hit store shelves.

As a magazine writer, my own hectic life is always where I begin to cull my story ideas from. And I’m not writing personal essays. But looking over my clips from the last ten years, it’s pretty clear what’s been going on in my life. I wrote about pregnancy, spring cleaning, raising kids with a positive body image, the effects of spanking, and getting along with your in-laws during the holidays. Trust me, I never showed up as a source in any of those stories, but the ideas were “ripped from the headlines” of my home. The thing is, I figure if this stuff is important to me, it’s probably important to somebody else. And when you take that same approach with fiction, if something happens in your life and you can’t stop thinking about it or wondering how other people deal with such things, you’ve probably got the makings of a great novel or short story.

Wanna know what I’m thinking about now? Adoption. We did a lot of work and started the adoption process. As it turns out, I slipped and got pregnant. So the adoption is off, but I’m still thinking about it. Wondering what if? What if we adopted and had a new baby at the same time? And so a new story begins. Stay tuned.

Lori L. Tharps is the author of Substitute Me. Feel free to visit her at LoriTharps.com

Writer Mama Starting Over Again

Hi Girlfriends,

I think it's quite funny that this cycle's theme is new beginnings, because that's exactly where I am in my life right now. I'm starting over. But it has nothing to do with my literary life, although it will definitely change the way I write. Girlfriends, I'm having a baby. Ten years after giving the birth the first time, I'm doing it again. Yes, there is another child in between the first and what will definitely be the last, but still, he was born almost seven years ago. For all intents and purposes, I feel like this is definitely going to be a new beginning. (Just as a side note: I can't believe all of the improvements and new gadgets there are for babies these days. A trip through the baby aisles at Target yesterday gave me a panic attack.)

While I would never say this baby was an accident, she wasn't exactly planned either. Suffice it to say, the hubby and I did not sit down and figure out exactly how a new baby would fit into our already hectic lives. My husband is in graduate school. I was planning on going on a whirlwind book tour this summer for Substitute Me. Considering I'll be bigger than a beached whale and on the verge of pushing this baby girl out, I can pretty much postpone those plans.

So, what am I going to do? How do I once again figure out how to marry my life as a writer, --which today we know also means my life as a non-stop publicist, promoter and social media whore -- with that of a new mother? After the birth of my first child, it took me an entire year to write one feature-length magazine article. I figured my writing career was over before it began. But then a funny thing happened. Once my son was a year old, sleeping through the night, on a semi-regular schedule, I started to fit the writing in during those nap times, after hours, or even while he played on his baby gym and I pretended to watch. If I'm being honest, I'll tell you that having kids actually made me into the super efficient writer I am today. Once my second son was born, I wrote three more books, a slew of magazine articles and a synopsis for a stage play that never made it out of my living room, but still.

My fingers are crossed that this child will be born knowing how much I love her, yet at the same time knowing how much I need her to be really keen on schedules. (Please!) Of course I know that it is entirely possible that because I actually need a really easy baby, I'll probably get a super fussy-won't sleep unless she's in a moving vehicle- needs to eat precisely every two hours for six months baby, but I kind of have a Plan B for that scenario. She comes with me on that whirlwind book tour. After all, Substitute Me is all about a working woman trying to find a perfect nanny. Won't having Baby X attached to my side make a great talking point for book groups? You think I'm kidding?

At the end of the day, I wouldn't change my life circumstances for the world. Since I was a little girl there have been two dreams that have been constant in my life; to be a writer and to be a mother. So far I've been able to do both and now I get a chance to try again. I couldn't be happier that this my new beginning.

(But just to calm my fears as a writer who's about to become a mother of three, I started googling writer mamas with three or more kids and I discovered, Jodi Piccolt, Jacqueline Mitchard and Sara Gruen all have at least three kids. If you want to make me feel better, let me know of any other three-kid author moms and/or if you are one of those yourself, how do you make it work? I'm so listening.)

Thanks, Girlfriends.

Women's Fiction is Good Enough For Me!

Hi Girlfriends,

My name is Lori L. Tharps and as of today, August 24, 2010, I can officially call myself a novelist. If you'd asked me yesterday, I would have said I'm an author because I have written two non-fiction books -- Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America and Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. And please note, I love both of these books and I enjoyed writing them immensely, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that my dream has always been to write fiction. And today, my dream has come true. Today, my first novel, Substitute Me hits store shelves.

Substitute Me is truly women's fiction (except for the cover which looks like a Forensic Thriller). The question I wanted to answer in writing this book was, "Can a woman really have it all if she has the right help?"Or, another way of looking at it might be, "What does a woman have to sacrifice in order to have a successful career, a thriving family and a comfortable home?"In Substitute Me, Kate Carter is a modern career woman on her way back to work after an extended maternity leave. Zora Anderson, a 30-year-old college drop-out from a good family,  is the woman Kate hires to be her son's nanny. In alternating chapters we hear from Kate and Zora how the lives of both women and the people they love, are irrevocably altered over the course of one year. One reviewer called the book "a modern-day horror story," while another called it "warm and engaging." I guess it's all in the eye of the reader, but I would definitely place the book in the category of a 'domestic drama.'

Today I had a conversation with a male colleague who heard about my book and he immediately asked, "Is this a book for men?" And I said without hesitation, "no." I wrote it thinking about women, the main characters are women and the issues are ones most women will be able to relate to. Of course I have no problem if men want to read (and/or buy) the book, but I'm not going to boo-hoo if the male species isn't immediately drawn to the material in Substitute Me. That being said, I'm keeping close watch on the recent debates about "women's fiction"being overlooked by reviewers, literary tastemakers and just regular dudes.

Maybe my next novel will feature a male main character that every man in America will relate to, but I seriously doubt it. I'm sure my next novel will feature a female protagonist with an unquenchable sense of wanderlust, a taboo romance and maybe a smidgen of social commentary. Or maybe I might craft a romance as quirky and delicious as Ernessa T. Carter's recent hit, 32 Candles, which I happen to know quite a few guys have admitted to reading and loving as much as their wives. And they didn't even mind being seen with a book with a pretty pink cover.

So, just out of curiosity, what books that could fall into the category of women's fiction, do you think men would enjoy and why?