Three strategies to generate story ideas
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Blog: TWO WRITING TEACHERS (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Sharon Ledwith: I came. I saw. I wrote. (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Chicano author Ernest Hogan |
Author Manuel Ramos |
Transformers are not heroes |
Post-apocalyptic SnowPiercer |
Blog: Jean's Encouraging Words For Writers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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A couple of weeks back my writing buddy, Carol Baldwin, and I headed south to Greenville, SC, for a one day writers' workshop "Show, Don't Tell," sponsored by the Greenville Emyrs Foundation. Author Hester Bass led us through techniques used by actors to create their characters - techniques that are equally useful to writers. It was great fun and we both gained some insight into improving
Blog: Jean's Encouraging Words For Writers (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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This week I’m participating in Donna’s July Challenge on her Word Wrangler Blog. I’m supposed to come up with 15 pitches for NEW books. I have 6 so far. It’s a great challenge, I think, to stimulate my imagination, my creativity--get the ole juices flowing. I think it’s working. But I need some seeds to germinate into ideas. So, Saturday I spent time browsing my local Barnes & Noble’s.
Blog: Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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10-Second Story Ideas - Adapt Familiar Titles and Phrases
by Deb Gallardo
This 10-second story inspiration comes from clever book titles that immediately made me ask "What's this story about?" These titles are fun, but more importantly, they are compelling. How can YOU create similarly quirky titles (and stories) that set the imagination soaring and will drive people in droves to your book? To answer that, let's look at the sources of these titles before they were so cleverly transformed.
TITLES
"The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse" is a nod to "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," which heralds the end of the world as we know it.
"The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime" is a play on words for "The Big Easy" (nickname of New Orleans, Louisiana), and which was a dark film about a police investigation into mob violence and possible police corruption.
"Thursday Next: First Among Sequels (Book 5)" alludes to the British novel and miniseries "First Among Equals," about four politicians vying to become Prime Minister of the UK.
"Duncan Delaney and the Cadillac of Doom" calls to mind "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," the quintessential adventure tale with an impending cloud of doom hanging over it.
ANALYSIS
Notice how, in the first title, juxtaposing chocolate bunnies and the apocalypse makes an immediate statement. It sets the mind to wondering 'What could chocolate bunnies possibly have to do with the end of the world?'
In the second title, we can deduce from the fact it's a "nursery crime" having to do with eggs, that this is probably about Humpty Dumpty, but that he didn't just fall. He's been murdered.
With the third title, even if you aren't familiar with this delightful novel series, you can tell it has something to do with books and politicians vying for position.
Finally, the last title just jumped out at me with its "Cadillac of Doom" phrasing. I have no idea what this story is about, but I can brainstorm about cars of doom for quite awhile. Asking what-if is the easiest way to do that.
* What if the Cadillac is a portal into another dimension? Sci-Fi / Fantasy
* What if the trunk of an abandoned Cadillac is the entrance to a secret underground facility? Mystery / Thriller
* What if the Cadillac is haunted by the ghost of a girl who spent 10 minutes of adolescent passion in its backseat, never to hear from the boy again so she kills herself? Horror
* What if the Cadillac curses its owner with too much good luck? Paranormal (with a moral a la "Twilight Zone")
10-SECOND STORY IDEA TIP
Find a phrase or title that is almost universally recognized. Here are two examples: "A Tale of Two Cities" and "It was a dark and stormy night." We begin by substituting words to alter the meaning.
1. Use a play on words - "A Tail of Two Cities" --- "It Was a Dark and Stormy Knight."
2. Substitute similar-sounding words - "A Tale of Two Cityslickers" --- "It Was a Dark and Smarmy Sight."
3. Juxtapose vivid contrasts - "A Tale of Two and a Half Cities" --- "It Was a Dark and Stormy and Cushy Little Playpen"
You may come up with your own devices to transform a familiar title or phrase into something clever. Whatever method you employ, the point is to have fun with it. And, of course, to inspire your writing!
NOTE: Longer phras
Blog: Emmasaries (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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This week I had the joy of interviewing my friend and picture book hero, Peter H. Reynolds, for the Children’s Book Hub. As usual, Peter said a million inspiring things and shared a number of jewels about writing. Among them was a reference to his own writing process that set off lightbulbs in my head. For those of you who have been participating in PiBoIdMo, or 12X12, or just find it hard sometimes to move from idea to story (as I do), this may be useful.
Once an idea comes to him (as they do all the time, because he has such highly developed Story Radar!), Peter asks himself, “Who could help me tell that story? What character and what situation can help demonstrate that idea?”
My ideas often start with theme – with the take-away, so to speak. But good storytelling is all about character, after all. If the characters aren’t compelling, believable, interesting, then the reader doesn’t care… and if the reader doesn’t care, the take-away usually ends up being didactic or lost altogether.
Who can help me tell this story? What character, in what situation, solving what problem, can illuminate this idea?
Blog: Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's story ideas, writing for children, story ideas, Deb Hockenberry, finding story ideas, Add a tag
All children's writers have looked for story ideas, just like writers of other genres. Today I have a guest post by Deb Hockenberry that sheds some light on how to find story ideas for children's books.
The Ongoing Quest
by Deb Hockenberry
There’s an ongoing quest happening all around us and all the time. What is that quest you ask? It’s writers looking for children’s story ideas. Actually, this isn’t that hard since there are a treasure trove of ideas everywhere you look!
See the maple tree in your backyard with it’s leaves changing colors? It just doesn’t mean that you have to go outside to blow the leaves and acorns away. Oh, no. It could mean a children’s story idea about a family raking a big pile of leaves together and jumping in them. Maybe it could turn into a children’s story about Halloween and trick – or - treating. Maybe you can have the main character in your book try to make his/her own costume which turns out all wrong! Or maybe your character thinks he’s too big to go trick – or – treating. You can get so many kinds of children’s story ideas at this time of year!
Halloween leads into Thanksgiving. Maybe you could write a children’s story about the time everybody in the family showed up for Thanksgiving dinner. There wasn’t enough room at the table. Remember? Or how about the time the dog jumped up at Mom’s perfectly set Thankgiving table, got his collar caught on the tablecloth and pulled over all her good china! This is a good story idea for children too. You know what Thanksgiving leads into, right? The biggest day in kid – dom…Christmas!
Christmas holds so many children’s story ideas in itself. There’s the Christmas parades in your own hometown with the entrance of Santa Claus. There’s the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping not to mention decorating for the holiday. Then you have the baking and decorating of Christmas cookies or the making of hot chocolate. What about the different ways you tried to drop a hint in order to get that Christmas present you really, really wanted! You can’t forget watching the night sky for sounds of jingle bells and the sight of Rudolph’s nose.
So, where do you get story ideas for children who don’t celebrate Christmas? Write about Kwanzaa and explain what all the symbols mean. You’ll surprise your young readers when you tell them that Kwanzaa has it’s own answer to Santa Claus! You can get also get story ideas for children about Hanakuh. Remember the time Jake and Betty played the driedel game with Mom and Dad? That game seemed to go on forever. This would be a good story idea for children. Actually, any holiday is good fodder for children’s story ideas!
Story ideas for children are everywhere! All you have to do is look around you. You can even get children’s story ideas at rummage or garage sales and even flea markets. Watch the kids as they help their mothers sell things. I went to a flea market where I bought a couple of children’s books from a mother and her son. The little boy, who was no more than ten – years – old, took my money and gave me the books. While doing this, he puffed out his chest and got the proudest look on his face as he raised it to me.
Yes, ideas for children’s stories are everywhere. Especially, at this time of the year! Actually, they’re everywhere at anytime of the year. All you have to do is look around!
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Blog: The Renegade Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Like many freelancers, you probably made a goal to sell more stories in 2011, and one key element to meeting this goal is having stories to tell. And like many freelancers right about now, you’re probably scratching your head wondering how the heck to find these stories. Maybe everything you’re coming up with feels tired and old … done to death. Boring and uninteresting. Or worst of all, you’re coming up with nothing. Zip. Zilch. And if you keep going at this rate, that’s exactly what you’ll have in your checking account come March or April.
Last year I gave a talk to freelancers called “Five Tips to Finding Story Ideas That Sell” and it seemed to strike a chord with them. Here are the tips in a nutshell. If you’d like to work one-on-one with me to learn how to generate story ideas effortlessly — ideas that actually sell to editors – sign up for my Become an Idea Machine workshop that starts on January 17, 2011 (that’s next week!) Some of my students have gone on to sell stories they developed in my class to places like the New York Times, Discover, Yankee, Parenting, The New Scientist, and more.
1. Memorize the phrase “That would make a great story.” Whenever I’m talking to my friends, mother, kid’s pediatrician, or a person buying bread ahead of me in line, chances are good I’m weighing the conversation in my mind and wondering if there’s some kind of story I could sell to an editor. It’s sick, I know! If my friend is poring her heart out to me about her cheating under-employed husband who just cleaned out her checking account, of course I’m there to comfort her and give her advice as a friend, but the writer in me is thinking, “Wow, I can’t believe my smart, well-educated friend ended up with such a loser. This is the third time this week I’ve heard about smart women ending up with dud husbands. I wonder if a women’s magazine would be interested in a piece about smart women marrying down. Is this a trend?” I’ll be frank: much of the time, the ideas I come up with this way I don’t use, because they’d violate a confidence or just aren’t that interesting to me. The real takeaway here is that I’ve trained myself to be present as a writer (not just a friend/mother/stranger in the supermarket/etc.) during the day — it’s a skill you can develop, too.
2. Focus on what what will be hot a year from now. Right now, there are a lot of freelancers pitching stories about frugality and simple living. But I think forward-thinking writers have moved post-recession and and pitching stories that are a step-ahead of the crowd. No, I’m not suggesting pieces on how to buy a share on a corporate jet or how to live large like Richard Branson — those days are gone. For example, we’ve been reading stories about “staycations” and cheap domestic travel, but I think international travel is coming back; if you write about travel, now might be the time to start looking for stories over the border. As a food writer, I would have been laughed at for pitching a story on caviar two years ago, but right now, it might be a good topic. I could do a little digging and find out that maybe caviar consumption is up around the world. Are caviar producers feeling optimistic again? Is this some kind of economic indicator we should pay attention to? Right now there are “happiness” and “simplicity” trends in literature; before this we were looking
Add a CommentBlog: Write About Now (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I've been on a bit of a reading binge. Summer does that to me. Warm sun, lounge chairs, a tall glass of iced tea...it's the perfect setting to kick back and read.
The funny thing is, I woke up at 2 a.m. the other day with the opening of a story in my head. It wasn't like anything I had read. It wasn't like anything else I had written. But the voice was fully formed and it wouldn't go away. I finally had to get up and type out the first four pages or risk not sleeping the rest of the night.
Since then I've been turning it over in my mind, trying to figure out the rest of the story, where the character goes from here. Even as I try to work on other things, this story keeps interrupting.
Have you ever had a character show up in your brain and demand that their story be told?
Blog: Musings of a Novelista (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I was talking with a writer friend who was freaking out over a recent sale she saw on one of the publishing trade websites.
“That’s MY story!” she wailed. “I should just stop writing my novel now because this other writer has just sold MY book!”
After talking her off the ledge, I tried to reassure my friend that just because another writer has written a book with a similar idea doesn’t mean that it’s the same story.
No matter how hard we try, there are no new ideas/stories under the sun.
As a writer, you come to the table with a unique voice. Something that only you possess in the whole Universe. With this voice, you can take an idea and make it your own. And that’s why writers can write a book on the same idea and create different stories. A story is created by the writer and not the idea.
It is disheartening when your story idea is getting buzz in the bookstores or deal announcements and you’re not ready to submit. How can you be sure that when you finish your book that you will even have an audience? That your book idea is now stale?
This is something to ponder and sometimes timing can be a friend or an enemy, but I also believe that good stories will always find a home.
Write the story you love. Don’t chase trends. Readers want a story written with your unique voice. An idea as old as time can be converted into something new and fresh by a writer who wants to her story.
I told my friend to keep writing her book.
Blog: The National Writing for Children Center (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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NOTE: For the month of February, Simon Rose will focus on where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories.
As a writer, I often find myself wondering “what if.” This in itself can lead to many story ideas, some of which may end up being more developed than others.
What if there were a letter in your mailbox, inviting you to attend a school for wizards?
Or if one night a flying boy dressed in green appeared at your window with an invitation to accompany him to a magical realm?
Or you discovered another universe at the back of your closet?
Or followed a white rabbit down a hole into another dimension?
This might not have been how the famous stories of Harry Potter, Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia or Alice in Wonderland actually came about, but these “what ifs” demonstrate how the writer’s mind can work simply from the starting point of “what if”?
Ideas can, of course, also be generated from your own influences, either from childhood or things from later in life. I became immersed in science fiction as a boy. The original Star Trek series springs readily to mind, along with other TV shows of the time, and I also read a lot of science fiction novels and collections of short stories, as well fantasy writers. I also read a tremendous number of comic books as a child. Pure escapism perhaps, but comic books were great for the imagination. I leapt headfirst into those tales of superheroes in what was probably the golden age of comic books in the 1960’s. The stories took me across the universe, into strange dimensions, into the land of the Norse gods or had me swinging from the New York rooftops.
At high school, I studied a great deal of history, retaining my interest in the subject up to the present day and historical events and personalities have certainly served as an inspiration for some of my novels for children. Sometimes I have used real stories and characters, as in The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, which is based on the true story of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower of London, or sometimes just utilized the setting of medieval England at the time of the Black Death, as in The Heretic’s Tomb. In The Alchemist’s Portrait, Matthew’s time travel adventures take him Amsterdam in 1666, the French Revolution, the American Civil War and the Russian Revolution. My upcoming novel, The Doomsday Mask, features the legend of the lost city of Atlantis, mysterious artifacts from ancient civilizations, the Pleistocene Extinction and the chaos of Berlin in 1945.
getting ideas, Simon Rose, Simon Says, story ideas, where ideas come from, writing fictionBlog: Scribblings (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Creating Ideas for Children's Books by Robyn Opie Ideas are everywhere. All of the time. It's our job, as authors writing for children, to find some ideas and turn them into entertaining stories. The most common sources of inspiration include: our experiences and personalities, children, family, pets, friends, conversations, television, newspapers, books etc. I've never had any trouble finding
Jean,<br />Sounds like a great experience. So glad you got to go. <br /><br />I love to meet new people at conferences. It is so good that we're not all alike, although we're usually more alike than different.<br /><br />Linda A.
It was a fun day! Thanks for going with me! I've already put some of Hester's advice into practice. how about you?
Sounds like you had a fun, productive day! Happy for you and Carol. :-)
Thanks, LInda! I hope we meet at a conference again soon.<br /><br />Jean
That's right, Vonda.<br /><br />You have such a busy speaking schedule, do you ever get to just "attend" any confernces?<br /><br />Jean
That's right, Vonda.<br /><br />You have such a busy speaking schedule, do you ever get to just "attend" any confernces?<br /><br />Jean
You are so welcomed, Carol. See you soon at critique group.<br /><br />Jean