How do you create a story agents can't resist?

Turn everyday moments into compelling fiction

Jul 07, 2025

We were at The Pump and Pedal, a bike shop and café in Devon. We always stop here on our way to Cornwall, fantasise about buying the beautiful but pricey mountain bike kit, eat pizza, and take a short stroll along The Granite Way, before heading further south. I was just about to take a bite of my carrot cake, when I heard someone say, ‘I met Blondie last week.’

My head snapped up. At the table opposite was a largish group of people. I’d already clocked them: I assumed they were grandparents, parents and two young women, presumably the grandchildren. One was in her late teens, the other in her early twenties. I’d been half-listening to them—it had been the older family members who’d been doing all the talking, and they weren’t saying anything interesting. But it was the youngest person who was speaking now. Everyone turned their attention to her. She sipped her latte and pushed her long blonde hair over one shoulder.

‘It was when I was working in the hotel. She put in an order for a cheese board.’

‘A cheeseboard? She eats cheese?’ one of the grandparents said.

‘A cheeseboard for two.’

‘She had someone with her in the hotel? What? A boyfriend?’

The girl nodded. ‘The order was for D. Harry. I didn’t realise it was Blondie. I didn’t know who she was. I thought it was a code name.’

I took a mouthful of my carrot cake, inhaling the cinnamon sprinkled on the icing. I love the idea of Debbie Harry booking into a hotel as herself and a young person a quarter of her age thinking she’d used an alias.

As writers, our greatest asset isn't just imagination—it's our ability to notice. Writers have a knack for catching the quiet, curious or even slightly odd details of everyday life that others often miss. These overlooked moments can reveal deeper truths, offering fresh and surprising seeds for stories.

‘Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost.’
Henry James

I’m not sure if the conversation in The Pump and Pedal will go into a book one day—or if it will spark another thought, a new scene. But here are a few suggestions for how you might turn those little nuggets, overheard conversations, glimpses of other peoples’ lives that you observe, into your own stories.

1. The Writer’s Lens: Learn to Notice

Observing is a skill. It involves slowing down and paying close attention to your surroundings. Notice the way a person walks, the worn edges of a book, as if it’s been read and reread, or the hesitant way someone orders coffee. These subtle observations can help you create unique details and craft compelling scenes.

2. Capture your Observations

Always be ready to document what you observe. Carry a notebook, use your phone or record voice notes. Capturing observations immediately helps preserve the freshness of the moment, giving your writing authenticity and depth.

3. Turn Observations into Inspiration

Writers excel at transforming ordinary observations into the beginnings of captivating stories. A stranger standing at a bus stop might seem unremarkable at first glance, but for a writer, it can prompt all sorts of questions: Where are they going? What are they thinking? Is their journey routine or life-changing? Perhaps the way they clutch their bag nervously or glance repeatedly at their watch might mean they’re late, or it could be they’re escaping from someone or something…

Recently, on the way to school, my daughter and I passed a gentleman in his sixties walking through the wood in a white two-piece suit. We both turned to each other and said, Why…? at the same time.

By asking these kinds of imaginative questions, simple moments can become the launchpad for an original narrative.

Once you've captured an observation, consider why it stood out to you. Does it hint at a hidden story, a character’s secret, a moment of tension? By asking yourself questions, you can transform everyday observations into compelling story ideas.

4. Write with Rich Detail

Engage your senses to enrich your observations. How did that overheard conversation sound? What scents lingered in the air? Was there a subtle taste or a texture that could add depth to your scene? Incorporating sensory details makes your writing vivid and immersive.

Exercise: Turn an observation into a scene

In The Pump and Pedal, the teenager carried on talking about her Blondie experience.

Later that night, the night of the cheeseboard for two for D. Harry, it started to rain. Someone suddenly wrapped on the window, startling the young woman. A face appeared, looming through the darkness. It was Debbie Harry. She’d gone out on the fire escape for a fag and had got herself locked out.

‘She was completely soaked,’ the girl said.

Your Turn!

Choose a recent observation from your own daily life. Spend ten minutes turning it into a scene. Focus on sensory detail and try to capture the essence of why this moment intrigued you.