It has been a while since I wrote anything about StoryCorps, so I thought it might be a good time to remind you of this wonderful, often touching resource that is also a fantastic source of story ideas.
StoryCorps is a non-profit organzation that, in conjunction with public radio, tapes people's life stories, or stories of important moments in their lives, and broadcasts those tales and also makes them available online.
In honor of Valentine's Day, at the moment they are focusing on love stories and are releasing a book called All There Is: Love Stories from StoryCorps (published by Penguin).
Some of the stories you'll find at www.storycorps.org are heart-breaking, some are funny, some give you pause to reflect. For instance, one of them consists of two sisters interviewing their father, who has Alzheimer's. Another one features a teacher asking a student who dropped out about what could have kept him in school. And one of the love stories is about how a long-distance romance blossomed.
Naturally I'm not suggesting that you use any of these stories outright as the basis of your book or screenplay , but rather that you use them for inspiration, as a way to listen to how people speak, to catch subtext, and to notice what kinds of stories have the greatest impact on you.
The site also has animated versions of some of the stories. I love animation, but I'm not 100% convinced that they add much here to just listening to the voices in the case of the dramatic stories, but they do serve the funnier ones. Below is an example, "Miss Divine," in which two cousins remember their stern Sunday School teacher. And if you know anybody who is hooked on (so-called) reality shows, introduce them to StoryCorps where they will find true reality--and without commercials.
