Science Fiction Writing Inspiration: The Weekly World News

Many science fiction writers will come to a point during their career where they seem to run out of fresh new ideas. They may wander around for a long time wondering where they can find their next point of inspiration. Science fiction writers do not need to look further then the Weekly World News.

For years, the Weekly World News has been bringing us strange stories from around the world for less then the price of a half-gallon of milk. This supermarket checkout aisle mainstay has been a collection of the insane that many have come to ignore. This is an untapped potential for many science fiction stories.

Every week, the Weekly World News is packed with stories that would bring even the most avid of believers to uncontrollable laughter. The outlandish stories that line the pages could become a science fiction writer's dream.

A story's premise is already written in the article in the Weekly World news. All the science fiction writer has to do is use their imagination to expand upon the story.

The pages of the Weekly World News will introduce you to a wide array of ideas about monsters, aliens, strange locations, and freakish accidents. Just imagine a short story that explains how Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are actually long lost lovers.

Even the pictures in the Weekly World News can inspire thousands of words that could be linked together for a short story. A picture of how the devil's face was seen in a tornado could lead to an award-winning story about am apocalyptic storm that the main characters need to avoid or overcome.

The Weekly World News has always had articles about meetings between aliens and high-ranking government officials. Could you write a story that could delve into what is being said at these secret meetings?

Even the writers for the Weekly World News could be an inspiration for a great story. Think about a writer who hunted down these stories, and realized that they were true. How would that character deal with the fact that the only location where he or she could be published would be the Weekly World News?

Remember that the show, "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," was influenced heavily by the Weekly World News's style of reporting. Every episode delved into another story that could have easily fit in-between the covers of the Weekly World News.

If you are a science fiction writer, and you have hit a wall, make a trip to your local grocery store. You might be amazed by the ideas that you come up with after reading just one issue of the Weekly World News.