I love used bookstores. Especially for obscure titles on weird stuff, such as GOD’S SECRET FORMULA by a certain Dr. Plichta wherein he explains all (not to mention that he reveals a rather massive ego that I found fascinating as an inadvertent character study). This kind of material sparks fiction ideas all over the place. Surfing the Internet can never duplicate browsing a dusty aisle.
I found “The World’s Weirdest Newspaper Stories” in a used book store some years back. It contains this story which seems to me an excellent outline for a novel, not the sort of novel I would write, but definitely something for mainstream women’s fiction (or guy fiction, depending):
“…[another] mother-in-law report was issued from Colorado … concerning the marriage of John and Paula Morris. Paula was a highly successful announcer with a local radio station. She had married John only on the understanding that they should not start a family until her career was entirely secure. So when their unplanned baby Jason was born only a year later, Paula grew concerned about her future.
To solve the problem, John Morris gave up his job as a ski instructor and agreed to look after the child. If he needed any assistance Paula’s widowed mother, Paulette Jamieson, who lived nearby, was at hand.
The arrangement worked well enough for two years, but collapsed one evening when Paula arrived home after a long stint at the radio station and John informed her: ‘I am suing for divorce.
He added: ‘You have become a disinterested mother and wife because of your career. Your mother and I are in love. We want to marry and take custody of little Jason.’
Paula moved out of the house that night, and soon afterwards countersued for divorce, accusing her mother of adultery and also bringing a case against her mother for alienation of affections. Forty-four year old Mrs. Jamieson, a striking blonde, told reports: ‘I don’t suppose my daughter will speak to me ever gain. I’m deeply sorry about that. But she has her career to think of. I have little Jason to consider.’