Last night, I participated in #blogchat, a weekly Twitter chat where bloggers get together and talk about different aspects of blogging.

This week’s topic was how to get/find blog post ideas. I figured it was one of those really timely challenges topics writers come across all the time.

This is usually this scene. Stop me if I’m wrong. First comes the question: what do I write about? And then the terrifying response: I don’t know.

For fiction writers, truth is stranger than fiction about 99 percent of the time. I found three news stories that certainly prove that statement.

Writers should be trolling news articles for ideas. Why? Because sometimes, when you don’t have a workable idea, looking at the news can trigger a new story to tell.

And, of course, truth is stranger than fiction.

So, here’s three stories that could make great fiction. All are interesting and all have really great potential to becoming something fun to write and read.

An underwater ghost town

When I saw this story I was floored and didn’t really believe it. Then I thought what a cool story this would make. A town that was underwater for 25 years reappeared. It’s like Pompeii but wetter and quicker. Imagine what you could write about with this.

Space cat

First it’s monkeys, now it’s Fluffy. Iran hopes to sent a cat into space. Let’s think about this. A cat. In space. I don’t know about your cat, but mine doesn’t even want to move from the couch sometimes, much less go into SPACE. Yes, I think there’s some fiction gold here, and for you comedy writers, this is just waiting for your genius.

Bones. Not the t.v. show. 

If you don’t troll Huffington Post’s News of the Weird, put that on your to do list now. This is awesomeness. Once you move past all the crazy crime news and people doing things that can only be explained by extreme substance abuse, you’ll find a gem like this. Two teenagers found bones in a river in England that are more than 1,000 years old. 

This one just writes it’s self, really.

I’m sure there’s more out there but these three will get you started. Have you seen any stories out there that would make good fiction? Have you adapted a news story into fiction? Let me know in the comments below.