Often, ideas are hiding in surprising places.

In college, I took a creative writing class and struck gold with a remarkable guest teacher, Glendon Swarthout. He wrote Bless the Beasts and the Children, Where the Boys Are, The Shootist (John Wayne’s last movie), and other celebrated novels.

His teaching approach had little to do with writing methods. Sitting on his desk, he talked about personal moments. His explanations of the creative process had the class hanging on every word.

This description stuck with me, and I still pinch myself that I was there to hear it.

One morning, he perused the classified ads in the local newspaper looking for ideas for a new book. He read a curious, minuscule ad about hunting buffalo at a facility in Arizona. After some investigation, he discovered it was a place of cruel sport in which the buffalo were let into a pen where people paid to shoot and kill them from the fence line.

Holding onto that disturbing fact, he combed the surrounding area and discovered a boys’ camp not far from the buffalo property. Bless the Beasts sparked to life.

To add dimension, he created the main characters as wayward boys tormented by the rest of the camp. After witnessing the killing pen, they conspired to turn the buffalo loose. They were successful, their victory more triumphant given their personal challenges. Swarthout wove a parallel between the troubled boys and the doomed buffalo, transcending their lives’ injustices. It was a hit movie with a tear-inducing title song sung by Karen Carpenter.

All because Swarthout read a tiny classified ad.

I was lucky to have a teacher who focused on creative mindfulness. One day, when assignments were returned to us in class, a note he had written on mine said “Keep this up and you’ll have a future in writing.” His affirmation thrilled me.

From him, I learned that stories are everywhere. Look around your home at special items and think about how you got them. I recently wrote about a decades-old stuffed scarecrow my sister made for me. Find pictures, memorabilia, or objects like that old yellow bowl you’ve had forever. Or follow Swarthout’s path and read today’s versions of classified ads. You just may discover magic.

In any case, it’s great practice to get those creative juices flowing!
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Amy Hinerman started her writing adventure by volunteering a monthly humorous column for her city’s newspaper. After a short time, it became a paid gig and endured for nine years. Since moving away from that area, she’s been a freelance writer/editor in many genres with clients from all corners of the globe. In 2021, she was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Since then, she’s been published with them three more times and has had a story published in a recent Guideposts anthology as well. Visit Amy on her website.