From real life to (succesful) fiction

Subject of inspiration is surrounding us.

Just a few examples taken from Mass Culture icons. TV series and Movies!!

Once upon a time, I read that Marc Cherry , scenarist of the famous show Desperate Housewives had not been so successful in the past as a film writer. With all the competition in the industry, nobody wanted to put his stories on screen, until he found in the Miscellaneous pages of newspaper the inspiration that would finally make him rich (?) and famous (well, not as much as Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria Parker). What did he read that was so inspiring? If I recall correctly it was the story of a commonplace mother who had killed her toddler in a quiet and commonplace American suburbs. That's was the starting point of the stories of desperate housewives in the suburbs...

What about Truman Capote? This writer began famous after writing his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood (1965) inspired by a brief news: the true and dramatic story of the Cutter family shot death in their farm. All this inspired two movies with different approach: the oscar-awarded Capote (2005) and the not so famous Infamous (2006), release one year later.

Well, that's it for tonight. We could add a long list of such real stories that inspired best seller novels or award-winning movies. The main idea is that, what makes the difference is not the story, not the fact, but the way one counts it, the details one enhances or hide, the details which are only suggested, the focus you give to the story.

Mere facts are short of striking. The way you dramatize and direct them is the real question.