I have never had a problem finding lots of story ideas. Writing stories started with my love of books in elementary school and going to the local library on Saturday morning. I loved stories of characters in an adventure like Curious George and Madeline. I wrote little stories on notebook paper in my room and read them to my mom and dad while they tried to watch the evening news. I have always had an active dream life and wrote many of those dreams down in my journal.
Journaling sparks ideas for stories later. When I write about my day, people I know, or things that happened to me at the store, it often results in an idea. Traits displayed by strangers in stores I visit often end up in my stories.
Stories are just a mirror of every day life with a little adventure and mystery added for entertainment sake. Simple errands on a Saturday can take a turn with a flat tire or a lost cell phone. Expand on those little complications, add more complications, a villain, a hero, or a big environmental event and you have a story, or a book.
When my story is dead, or I cannot think of ways to bring an idea into a full story, I do some exercises in writing.
Exercises for Ideas:
- Look at old pictures and ask “What if my Aunt Sally had not finished her final vows as a nun and instead had been jailed for a crime she didn’t commit in 1941?”
- Read a classic novel, take out the main character and change their motivation to something sinister in the book. Can you create a whole new story?
- Watch a movie. Write a paragraph of a scene from the movie, changing the gender or species of the main character. How did the story change?
- Go to a mall, coffee shop, or café and sit down with your computer. Listen to every conversation around you and secretly type out three sentences you hear. Make one of them the opening line of your story. Develop a story from there.
- Make your fantasy come true. Did you wish to be born in a different era or follow a different career path? What if you had followed your childhood dream and become a ballerina, a fireman, or a congresswoman? Make yourself the character in a one page description of that life.
The ideas or imagination were never any problem for me. My problem has always been weeding through many pages of ideas to find the one that could become a short story or a book. These are just a few suggestions to help you on the way to your next big idea for a story.
sherrystruthtofiction 