Flurries of Words: BARGAIN BOOK: Lost City of the Condor by by Loret...

Flurries of Words: BARGAIN BOOK: Lost City of the Condor by by Loret...: We are happy to announce as a BARGAIN BOOK:   Lost City of the Condor    by Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton  (Click here for UK purchas...

Where to Look For Ideas for Short Stories and Novels

Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.  The newspaper and television are both good places to find mystery plots or those involving intrigue and scandal.  A real life story about a missing person or a famous figure involved in a love triangle can inspire an exciting work of fiction.  However, if you get ideas from a news source, it is best to use this only as a starting point for your work.  Never use real names and always slightly change the events and the setting. 

History and Nonfiction Books

 History books are also a good source for ideas.  Personal accounts and journals such as those of people traveling out west on a covered wagon will help provide a good general background for a certain time era and give you a "feeling" for the people who lived in that time.  Books about local legends and ghost stories can also inspire great ideas for fiction. 

Observation

While riding a bus late at night, I heard one drunk say sadly to another, “You know, you never forget your first love.” He was obviously thinking back to a happier time, a broken romance, filled with the bittersweet regret. What a great beginning  for a novel or short story!

Drawing from Your Own Past

In the words of Frank McCourt, “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood; the happy childhood is hardly worth your while…” If you've made it to adulthood, you probably have enough material to write about for the rest of your life.

Start your own X-Files

Get in the habit of collecting notes and then putting them in a computer file. (There are a lot of interesting things in “Vickie’s X-Files” and Loretta's too, some which will be made into novels and short stories, others that probably never will.) This is the place where incomplete stories dwell. Thoughts incubate. Sometimes, years later, you may find the perfect ending to a story idea you had started years ago. When you feel depleted, you will always have a backlog of random thoughts, character sketches, and plot ideas for inspiration.

Check back next month for Tips on how to turn those great ideas you've found into stories.

Creative Writing Exercise to Build Scenes, Characters, Dialogue and Theme

Creative writing exercises are a good way to develop right brain activity and to stretch the imagination.

Practice in building scenes, characters, dialogue and theme can give a beginning writer experience in these techniques and can also help a veteran writer develop new ways to describe a scene or character or to deepen theme.

Creative Writing: Scene-Building Exercise

Being aware of your environment can help set scenes in a work of fiction.  For a skill-building journal exercise, take a walk and jot down what you see, feel, hear.  Concentrate on the senses.  Pay attention to small details, the falling of leaves, the buzz of insects, the scent of flowers.

Contrast the scene before you now with one of an opposite season.  If it is spring, describe how it will look in the fall.  If it is winter, describe summer.

Creative Writing: Character-Developing Exercise

Jotting down detailed character sketches is good practice for developing fictional characters.  Have you ever known an interesting “character”?  Describe him or her in detail.  What makes them unique?  How do they talk, act, dress?  What makes them different from other people?

Pick out three physical characteristics and describe them—the color of their eyes, the shape of their nose, their physical build.  Now pick out three non-physical characteristics such as their manner of dress, a habit such as tapping a pencil on the desk or scratching an ear, the way they walk. By mixing, matching, adding and deleting characteristics, a writer can create a backlog of unique and interesting characters.

Creative Writing: Dialogue-Building Exercise

Good writing dialogue often springs from an overheard or remembered conversation from long ago.  Being aware of conversations around you makes fictional conversation sound more real.

 

Recall an interesting conversation you have heard at a restaurant, bus stop, or any other place.  Make it more dramatic by turning it into an argument.  Now change the subject of the conversation.

Creative Writing: Theme-Building Exercises

Many writers struggle with theme. Theme is different from plot.  Plot is the action of the story.  Theme is the mental action–what the story is really about, the message the author is trying to convey and leave with the reader.  Most themes test courage or moral integrity.  An example of a common theme is “crime doesn’t pay” or “honesty is the best policy”.

Jot down a list of qualities such as honesty, loyalty, perseverance.  Now think of an instance where this quality might pay off.

Write down a list of old sayings and quotes from Ben Franklin and other sources.  Then think of a story to go along with them.  For instance, “the early bird gets the worm.”  Think of a time where the early bird came out ahead at work--by getting the account or the promotion.   What if the early bird did the right thing and didn’t get their reward?  Would they be bitter, revengeful, or take it in stride?  How the character reacts determines the theme.

Imagine a person caught in an unusual hypothetical situation that calls for a moral choice of some kind.  Stretch the imagination by wondering “what if”.  For example, what if you found out your best friend was embezzling from a company.  Would you tell?  Remain silent?  What if you came across a purse on a park bench with a winning lottery ticket inside  Will you redeem it or look for the owner?  What if you had the opportunity to steal a bag of diamonds and blame it on a known criminal?

Use these examples or make up your own exercises and practice daily to develop the habit of thinking creatively in terms of scene, character, dialogue and theme.

More Writing Tips:  Fiction:From Writing to Publication