Author Buffy Andrews looks for story ideas in the oddest, most fascinating place...

NEED IDEAS OR A WRITING BOOST? READ YOUR NEWSPAPER’S OBITUARIES

Obituaries are fascinating. We learn so much about the people who have passed away – not just what they did, but who they were. Their passions and hobbies, likes (and sometimes dislikes) triumphs, joys and even sorrows. Their names and faces leap off the page and they become so much more than ink on paper. They become people. Real people, who lived and loved and died. As an author, obituaries provide a wealth of story material. I’ve gotten character names from reading obituaries and story ideas. I’ve learned things I didn’t know and came across connections I would have never made otherwise. Try these on for size:

• Donald Doutrich raced against Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

• Jeanne Recht loved to drive, too. She liked getting lost. She’d choose a road she had never been down and keep making turns to see where she’d end up. Sometimes, she’d drive for days. Alone.

• George Wise’s favorite pastime was sitting on his backyard swing, and Edward Etzweiler loved to boogie board at the shore with his granddaughters, their families said.

Column by Buffy Andrews, journalist by day, author by night. She is Assistant 
Managing Editor of Features and Niche Publications and Media Editor at The York 
Daily Record/Sunday News in York, Pa. You will find her on a plethora of social 
networking sites, from Twitter and Facebook to Tout and Rebel Mouse. She also 
teaches webinars on digital content marketing to journalists and writers. She 
writes middle-grade, young adult and women’s fiction. Her debut novel, 
The Yearbook Series: Gina and Mike, from Limitless Publishing is out. 
She has more novels being released this fall and in 
2014. See her official website here.