Sometimes Your Imagination Needs Inspiration

This is the sixth in a series of story prompts: not just a couple of sentences — but a comprehensive outline you could use for subplots or entire novels.

If you create a story or poem based on something you read in this post, I’d love to hear from you in the comments area or via the contact form at the top of this page.

Popular Conspiracy Theories

You’ve probably seen them on social media and television; heard them parroted by friends, family, and acquaintances. You may have had disagreements or downright fights about them. Maybe you believe them; maybe you don’t. However, every theory provides an opportunity for your muse.

Some conspiracy theories last for decades, centuries, or millennia.

Ready for a few examples? Every tidbit of disinformation provides story potential.

Story Prompt #1: Aliens visit us and base their knowledge of humans and Earth on a conspiracy theory.

Story Prompt #2: Historians of the future base their understanding of our century on several popular conspiracy theories circulating on social media.

More story prompts follow.

Area 51 Contains Alien Remains and Technology

True? I’ve sometimes wondered.

Whether it’s true or not, the premise has been used and will continue to be used as the basis for stories.

But you don’t want to write a story that’s already been written, right?

What else might be in Area 51? Consider a few possibilities:

• clones of Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Graham Bell, or other historical figures
• remains of Atlantis and/or Atlanteans
• top-secret spy aircraft
• a stable wormhole
• a time portal

Chemtrails Contain Chemicals

Chemtrails are supposedly contrails seeded with chemicals that can do one or more of the following:

• reduce life expectancy
• cause sterility
• allow mind control
• regulate wind, rain, and temperature
• wage biological or chemical warfare

Could you leverage this premise to come up with another nefarious — or beneficial — dispersal of chemicals?

Nero Faked His Death

Instead of Nero, what about one of the following people? Or include two in the same book.

• Albert Einstein
• Amelia Earhart
• Annie Oakley
• Bonnie Parker
• Churchill
• Coco Chanel
• Elvis Presley
• Golda Meir
• Helen Keller
• Hitler
• Indira Gandhi
• John Lennon
• John Steinbeck
• Jonas Salk
• Marilyn Monroe
• Sigmund Freud

I recommend that you steer clear of people who died recently. Let families and public mourn before inserting them into fictional works.

To make these stories work, you would need to invent a compelling motivation for a character’s actions.

The USA Didn’t Land on the Moon in 1969

Some sceptics claim that the 1969 moon landing was a hoax backed up by fake camera footage. What would the sceptics say if the USA or another country found the flag that was planted by Buzz Aldrin? Could you add something else that Buzz might have dropped?

Could an ancient human or alien landing have left other souvenirs?

The Earth is Flat

What would a flat Earth eclipse look like?

This conspiracy theory seems impossible to anyone who gazes up into the sky and sees a round moon and sun — and round planets when viewing through a telescope.

We can understand why ancient races might have thought this way. The Earth looked flat. They had no way to know how small they were and that if they had been able to fly with the birds, they could have seen the curvature of our planet.

Greeks of the 5^th Century BC seemed to know that the Earth is spherical, and so did at least one author of the Bible (Isaiah 40:22).

So … bring a Neanderthal into the present or the future. Or transport a modern scientist into the Paleolithic period. Now you have the makings of a story.

The Egyptian Pyramids Were Built by Aliens

The engineering feats required to build the pyramids were phenomenal. Could humans who lived thousands of years ago have developed the technical knowledge and resources to create these wonders?

Many people don’t think so. Can you sculpt a story from the desert sands and make it believable?

Natural Cures Are Being Quashed by Big Pharma

Is this a conspiracy theory, or is it the truth? Do you dare to speculate and investigate?

What would a disease-free world look like? Envision no colds or influenza, no cancer, no diabetes …

The Illuminati Control the World

The original Illuminati was a Bavarian secret society founded in the 1700s. And, yes, they did want to dominate the world. However, the society fizzled in less than a decade.

Many people believe that the “fizzle” was a deliberate attempt by the Illuminati to hide themselves in plain sight.

You could spend months investigating this theory. In fact, if you search for Illuminati at Goodreads, you’ll find more than 1000 results.

Maybe you could create a society with a different name — in an alternate universe, perhaps, or a modern society so successful that nobody knows of its existence.

A Few More Conspiracy Theories

If you tackle these or any other theories, please show empathy for relatives. My recommendation is to leverage the theories as springboards and create a new conspiracy for your story.

• Paul McCartney is dead.
• Princess Diana was murdered.
• John F. Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA.
• RFID chips are implanted via vaccinations.

We’ve Barely Scratched the Surface

I generally recommend that writers avoid Wikipedia for research, but the following page is a good place to start if you’re interested in exploring a list of conspiracy theories.