o. writing help

IDEA GENERATORS

some ways to formulate

ideas, both big and small;

▂▂▂▂▂▂

BEND A WELL-WORN STORY

the stories of cinderella, sleeping beauty, and dracula have been worked over and over. remember this; some stories are public domain and as such you can use their plot, their characters, and/or their premise. twist it with your own ideas and you could have a winner!!

READ THE NEWSPAPER

find the weirdest or most mysterious news story you can and write an alternative path to/ending for that news story (be sure to change names and details if you wish to submit it for publication). you can bend a news story to fit almost any genre, too!!

WHAT-IF QUESTIONS

look at history, or current events, or even novels and stories you love and ask yourself "what if".

MAKE USE OF JUNK MAIL

have you ever had one of those emails or letters claiming to be from a nigerian, or russian, or vietnamese, prince/princess who will pay you if you just let them use your bank account to claim funds? well, why not write a story about the people who make these scams, the people who fall for them, or even story in which it is true!!

OLD FRIENDS, NEW HORIZONS

invent a fantastical, or realistically grim depending on your bend, for an old acquaintance with whom you have lost touch!!

EAVESDROP

now i'm not suggesting you listen for secrets behind closed doors (unless that's really your thing), but we all know there are times when you catch a snippet of conversation in a public place and wish you knew what came next, before, or how it started.... why not write your own version?

PEOPLE WATCH

an extension of the last, but bear with me. watch the way people move, what they wear, and think about the kind of person this might make them. write a story about the person you create, or simply slot your new character into an existing plot.

ALTERNATIVE HISTORY

much like the what-if question, but a little more involved. after all, the man in the high castle is an alternative history; what would have happened if we came to believe the nazis won the war?

WRITE A FIX IT

have you ever been disappointed by a story or movie? write a fix-it scene or story that resolves things the way you would have liked!

TRY A PLOT GENERATOR

this one will actually generate a short story, novel, script outline for you if you fill out the descriptors. it usually spews out sub-par offerings, but if you're stuck you can have some real fun and maybe harvest a few small ideas at the same time.

START WITH A WORD

pick a word you don't know the meaning of and look it up, or a word that you just like the sound of. make a mind map of all the associations it has for you and write a story using that inspiration/guidance.

PICK A PICTURE

google an image, or look at a painting and make a story that fits the scene depicted. if you want to get really out there pick an abstract and write about what you see in it.

WRITE FOR OTHERS

ask your friends and family what they really like to, or really want to, read and write something just for them.

RE-INVENT A FAIRY TALE

avoid a well-worn one like snow white and the seven dwarves and go for something like the woman who lived in a shoe, or rumpelstiltskin. better yet you could write a new fairy tale using established mythological creatures like, for example, ghillie dubh of scottish folklore.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

pick a topic that really interests you, for example templar history, social development in children, marine biology, and read around the subject. the more broad your knowledge, the bigger the pool you have to draw ideas from.

MAKE A HATE LIST

list the tropes, character features, and cliches you hate the most and go through them one by one writing short snippets and scenes (even stories) which twist them in ways you would prefer to see in main stream media.

MAKE A LOVE LIST

make a list of the tropes, character features, and cliches you love and deliberately write them badly to find out what it is that makes them work for you.

BREAK YOUR ROUTINE

we are creature of habit, of course, but be sure to break from your norm now and then, new experiences are key in keeping your repetoire fresh.

TAKE A HOLIDAY/VACATION

on the subject of shaking up your routine – be sure to take time to not write. that's right; when you don't write, you can improve your writing (say that fast three times!!). recharge and focus on experiencing life, even if your vacation is only a lack of work.

TALK TO PEOPLE

talk to anyone about anything. talk to people you know you disagree with about difficult subjects (politely) and to people you usually agree with about controversial subjects (politely). hell, talk to strangers about mundane things. absorb the milieu of humanity as often as you can if you really want to write; so many of stephen kings books feature tiny, insignificant moments that make his fantastical stories truly human.

MAKE A DECISION

before you have a full plot, or if you cannot build one to save yourself, make a huge decision and plonk it in the middle somewhere. e.g. this character will die. then set about brainstorming as to how you can make this happen in a meaningful way.

RELIVE YOUR MEMORIES

write about your memories, the good, the bad, the ugly, the insignificant, and the fleeting. these are the things that impacted you enough to stay with you. BONUS; fixate on the most obscure and meaningless memory you have, write about why its so important and memorable, make a false history to get a character to that point.

REVERSE PROBLEM SOLVING

create a problem for your character and mind-map or brainstorm how you can cause this problem for them.

FILL THE GAP

write out a start point for your character and a possible end point, fill that gap! if you can't think of one for your character do it for yourself; where are you now, and where would you like to be (in your wildest dreams or most tentative plans) and fill the gap.

LINK HOP

start on a wikipedia page for something you find interesting, link hop three times and write a story that joins all things somehow. this is a hell of an exercise; be prepared to drink!!

WWJD

pick a sticky situation out of a novel, newspaper, film, or memory and ask yourself what someone else would do in that situation (maybe not Jesus, though)

TRIGGER STORMING

pick an action, incident, or problem and apply it to your character/a character. e.g. "chad finds out his wife of ten years is cheating with his best friend, what does he do?" or "jolene is up to her eyeballs in debt and about to lose her house, how does she fix it?"

FILL A NEED

what does the world/ your town/ a country sorely need and ask yourself how this need could be filled. brainstorm ideas from the boring to the outlandish and make a character who can fix this problem in one of the ways. write about it.

"...and throw rocks at them"; make a character with a goal, any goal at all, and then chase them up a proverbial tree (i.e. complicate things) before you throw rocks (problems) at them. Ensure things get out of hand.

CONSIDER AN OBJECT

there is a whole book and film about how the painting the girl with the pearl earring came to be. create an object history.

WRITE ABOT THE MOST UPSETTING THING YOU HAVE EVER HEARD OR SEEN

solve it or make it worse, the choice is up to you.

CONSIDER YOUR PETS

what does your dog do when you leave the house? does your gerbil have nefarious plans? is your rabbit actually an old god? write about the secret life of the furry tenants in your home!!

CONSIDER A MILESTONE

graduations, birthdays, births, and deaths all throw up high emotions and remarkable moments. brainstorm a big life event and write the story/agenda of everyone in attendance. there's a story in there somewhere!!

i h8 school

&&& would you

guys read my

peter parker fic

if i made one ??

i'm thinking of

publishing one!!