A fantastic place to look for short story ideas every day is the newspaper. Keep a scrapbook of your favorite stories, like so many great writers who came before you!

	Read through a local or national newspaper for stories that spark your imagination. Keep a collection of clippings that might make good stories. Highlight portions of these stories that strike you as original and inspire you to write. Save these news stories in a scrapbook for when you need ideas. Take one or more of these news stories and write an original story based on real events. Make sure that your story — while inspired by real events — stands on its own as an original piece of writing. Be sure to change all names, places, and events. The best way to ensure that your story is original is to use the news as a point of departure rather than a blueprint.