The reverse Kevin Bacon method: How to ethically use real-life story inspo

First assignment: watch the video. Finished? Good.

Now, do you have a real-life story or an existing inspiration source that you’re craving to write about? Here’s an important self-assessment to do before using this as story fuel. Because ethics are cool.

Action Steps: The Story Separation Assessment

It starts with this very important question:

• What universal theme or situation can I identify? (i.e., Theme is everything. If your story involves a personal connection with your landlord, you can find monopoly, greed, neglect, wealth, and investments as overarching themes.)

• What other perspectives can I explore in it? (i.e., If your story inspo is about a priest, can you look at it through the perspective of the admin staff or parishioners?)

• Where can I seek out alternative takes on the situation? (i.e., Reddit, comments, LinkedIn experts, research papers, etc.)

Each of these is meant to remove you by a degree of separation, think reverse Kevin Bacon. So you can get more distance from the existing and craft a story that’s rooted in real life, yet safely objective enough that your chances of being banished from the proverbial group chat are slightly slimmer.

Most importantly, trust your gut and think about how’d you’d feel in the other person’s shoes. That’s the power of empathy, your superpower, no matter what you’re creating.

Now go let the world, in all its messy glory, inspire you!

— Morgan