"Stealing" Inspiration

I'm the type of person that finds inspiration in the strangest places. Once in awhile, I'll watch something on TV, or read a book that catches my eye. I'll be inspired by one small thing and it'll turn into something completely different in my mind. Let me show you were I've gleaned a lot of inspiration from in recent months:

If you follow me on Twitter, it should be no surprise that I'm going to talk about FNL. My husband tried to get me to watch this show for a year, and I brushed it off saying, "Football, meh!" Yeah, I know, I was wrong. So, so wrong.

FNL is like a really great YA novel turned into a television series. The characters are believable, and so are the parents. Not all the parents are perfect, but Coach Taylor and his wife Tami are pretty much the perfect, flawed parents that I'd want any of my protagonists to have. Over the course of the series only a few of the kids stay the series, as they move on to college and to life outside of West Texas.

I was devouring several FNL episodes a day when an idea formed in my mind. Last year I wrote a YA ghost story that didn't pan out, but I loved the couple in that book so much I knew I'd put them in a story someday. Over the course of a few days, a perfectly formed idea for this new story came. Does it have anything to do with football or Texas? Nope, not at all. One of my characters plays football, but that's about it.

I was inspired by this series because the characters are real, and I adore them all, warts and all. I think if you're writing contemporary YA, you really should give this series a try, because I think that it gets most things right.

Where have you "stolen" ideas from?