Some times I get creepy ideas that would make a good story but I only have the idea and not enough to tell the story. I could build the story around the idea but its so creepy... I can't think of a starting point for it.

This morning I thought about a man who goes in to identify Jane Doe women. He comes in often enough the police know him. There is, supposedly, a woman he is searching for, a woman who has gone missing. He gives a name at least and it is a missing woman.

At first I was thinking about how hard it would be to see dead women and try to look for evidence, distinguishing marks, to be sure she is (or is not) the woman he knew. Then I thought... what if he likes it? Feeling their skin, touching the little curl in the middle of her bottom lip... and so on. Even if the body is in bad condition, has been decaying, burnt in a fire, mangled by animals (or humans), or just cold and dead. At some point police might begin to think he is showing up too often and taking too much time over the bodies. But, what can they really do, as long as he claims he is looking to identify a real missing woman.

So there is the idea. Creepy. Is there even a real missing woman he is looking for? He could just have picked out the name of a woman who went missing. Or, worse, he could be the one who murdered her and has hidden the body, very sure it will never be found. Is it a good thing that he only killed that one woman and instead goes to fondle others already dead? Not good, but better than being a serial killer?

How does it all start, if you were to write it?

There is a world of difference between having such an idea and writing it, putting your name on it and sending it out to the public, having your family, friends, co-workers, everyone you know or don't know yet, reading it. Horror writers are at least a little brave to put their name on their creations. Maybe not the standard horror stories, typical stories, used over and over in media. But, an unusual idea, had to come from somewhere, some part of the writer's brain. What kind of brain do you have with something like this floating around in it.