You never know where the inspiration for a good story might come from, or a key character or setting. One thing about writing adventure or thrillers is that a story is no good without a crisis that needs fixing or a problem that, without a protagonist's intervention, will become a crisis.
I like for my readers to understand why the bad guys (or girls) are bad. The first beta reader of my first book a long time ago, loved the story, but she couldn’t get past how my hero was too good to be believable. So where do you get ideas to humanize evil or to rub a little mud on the face of a hero?
I devote more than an hour each day to news programs and to blogs and newsletters. You probably also commit some time to what is being said about the world. But for me, to find the inspiration for good and bad, and tips about where history might be misleading or a current event is being manipulated, it is important to commit myself to sources on each side.
For broadcast news that includes PBS, MSNBC, FOX and OAN. I monitor a dozen different podcasts and e-magazines. It is really amazing when the left, left-left and the right and right-right align on an issue or person or place. It’s nice to see a little agreement. But there is never a story there.
Where we differ is the story of America. If I can take readers to someplace they will never go to, or an issue they might never pay attention to, then I have a story. I find that comes most often from personally finding voices outside my echo chamber.