Looking For Inspiration in the News

Okay, so I've been working on my newest WIP -- a science fiction novel I'm lovingly calling a "techno thriller." I adore all things technological, and I've decided in this futuristic (yet not dystopian) society, that uber-cool tech should exist.

I'm sure you can see the problem this poses. See, I don't live 60 years in the future. I am a simple elementary school teacher (although I am the technology specialist -- it's a glorified typing teacher, people. Don't get excited). I drive my kids to dance and watch basketball games on the weekends.

I'm not out there inventing the newest scientific gadget or trying to separate time.

But there are people who are.

And so I've started subscribing to some science websites, and reading information on the newest cybernetic lenses and how someone created a time cloak, and bullet-proof doors (who would need those? Well... I did say techno THRILLER). (I realize none of these things may be new to you, but they are to me. And they're helping me think beyond my own experience and knowledge.)

I never would've imagined that I'd like research so much. (I am a self-proclaimed research-hater.) But reading and watching these sorts of scientific advancements has really switched my brain on. I'm more able to think of what might happen in 60 years when I'm aware of what's happening now.

I'm finding inspiration in the news. Where do you find your inspiration?

2 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

That's an awesome idea. I actually have a article from parade or some magazine with a bunch of possible inventions that I'm saving for ideas.

I think you can find lots of good ideas by just looking around. Once I found some cool names for places in my fantasy setting by looking at street names and towns when we took a driving trip to a small town down South. It's all around us.

Lissa Price said...

I just wanted to say that the time cloak advancement is very cool!