Story Ideas from Songs

Many a writer has episodes of writer's block at one time or another, sometimes writer's block occurs very often. Many things in life though can give us a great idea for an article, story or even a book. Last night I was trying to find a book to read when I went to bed. I found a book I bought many years ago but had not yet read. That book is where I got the idea for this article Story Ideas from Songs.

Mary Higgins Clark is one of my favorite writers. I started reading her book "Pretend You Don't See Her." The book was published in 1997. In the acknowledgements section of the book Clark tells us how she came up with the idea for this book. She was having dinner at a famous New York restaurant and toward the end of her evening one the owners and professional singer Frank Pellegrino sang a Jerry Vale song "Pretend You Don't See Her." Presto! Mary Higgins Clark came up with a New York Times Bestseller By getting story ideas from songs.

Not only did she get a best seller from an idea used by hearing a song but I came up with an idea to write this article "Story Ideas from songs" by reading her book.

There are so many songs that tell a good story and that song could be developed into a great book. One such song that comes to my mind is Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds." What about Sarah McLachlan's "Angel", Taylor Hicks' "Places I've Been" or "Wedding Day Blues". Bucky Covington's "I'll Walk" and so many more songs are great story's just waiting to be developed. You could use just the title to come up with a great story like Mary Higgins Clark did with "Pretend You Don't See Her." Her idea evolved into a book about a woman who witnesses a murder and goes into the witness protection program to save her life. Story ideas from songs led to a great book by Clark. Or you could turn the entire song into a book idea. Write a story that follows the antics from the song and goes in-depth to what the song means.

So the next time you have writers block listen to some of your favorite music and maybe you will get an idea for a great article, story or book. Maybe you will even end up with a bestseller like Mary Higgins Clark by simply getting story ideas from songs.