Writing Ideas: Find stories in the common

Haruki Murakami wrote the short story “Tony Takitani” based on a yellow T-shirt that he discovered and purchased in a Maui thrift shop. Something about that shirt and the Americanized Japanese name on it spoke to him of a story that needed to be written.

How many stories do you pass by every day? Take the time in the coming days to search for something small and incongruous. You’ll know you’ve found the item when an unanswerable question pops into your head - a place where fiction is almost certain to be more rewarding than the truth. Give yourself 10 minutes to commit it to paper (or computer) and I
guarantee that you’ll find the source of something deeper and more valuable to work with.

Resources:

Murakami, Haruki. “On the Adaptation of Toni Takitani.” Zoetrope: All-Story Summer 2006.