Odd places for ideas

You know I am a fan of finding ideas where I see them, I am sure.  Well, I had an epiphany of sorts the other day while laying in bed trying to get rid of my migraine.  I watched a lot of shows that I thought would be educational and get me more up to speed on some military issues.  So I watched that sniper show, Border Wars, and military history ad nauseum.  (I really hate watching military history, although I love the shows about technology.)

At any rate, I found a show on snipers (which name escapes me) and this was on Coast Guard snipers.  (I know, right?  A doggie head tilt moment.)  The thing is, they are a relatively new thing, and they only shoot out the engines on fleeing boats, not people.  What a genius idea!  Fascinating stuff.  I have to extrapolate that for my military sf as my guy is a sniper with a twist on the sniper equipment I haven't seen done before, but which the idea of the Coasty tactics can be used with.  Heh.

And another spot for finding ideas is to search out calls for proposals by the government.  Look up what they are looking for, and you can get a few ideas for futuristic technology.  This is one example.  It's fascinating to see the types of R&D that DOD is looking to get contractors onboard for, and if you are willing to extrapolate for plot bunny ideas, you might get some good stuff.

Comments

[Charles Gramlich]

Good advice. The rate of technology change is also important for anyone who writes contemporary stories. You couldn't have a modern story without people having cell phones now for example.

[laughingwolf]

bud of mine retired from uscg, will pass the info on to him, thx d :)

[pacatrue]

Very cool idea of USCG snipers. 7yo and the scouts have visited two coast guard stations, and so for about 6 months that was 7yo's choice of profession. He has moved on to train driver, however. I wonder what he'll think of the sniper possibilities.

[writtenwyrdd]

Mention snipers and he'll be hooked for at least a week!