Getting Ideas for Stories
Posted: Monday, April 26, 2010
by Hannah Quinn
Too-Write! Professional Services
Believe it or not, ideas for stories are everywhere. Yet, it is one of the most common questions. Many writers are looking for a guide list. Some questions I hear are:
Where do you get your ideas from?
How do you know it's a good idea?
How do I find an idea that no-one has used?
How do I make my ideas interesting?
What do you do when you don't have any ideas?
Most people who struggle to find ideas want a list: a road map and guidelines. Often they're looking for a plot for a short story, a novel, a book, even an essay, a dot-to-dot drawing.
One of the problems with writers is they are reluctant to accept that it is work, hard work. No matter what you want to write - poem, play, short story, novel or anything else, it takes work, persistence, determination, time, false starts, failures and frustration.
A teacher can help you learn techniques. The hard work is up to you. But, because ideas are so hard to come by, rather than make a list, I'm going to give three ideas and take them in two different ways each. There are as many ways to write these simple ideas into stories as there are writers.
- A little boy hides from people searching for him.
- A man has lost his job but not told anyone.
- A woman hears a terrified scream.
1.1:
A little boy is lost in bushland. It is dark and he is cold, hungry, frightened. Lights scoot over the landscape and feet crash nearby. Loud voices, stranger voices, call his name but he curls smaller, hiding. 'Never go with strangers,' he whispers to himself.
Will they find him? Will he come out into the open? Or will he flee and come to harm?
1.2:
A little boy takes biscuits from the pantry, slips behind the heavy chair and settles behind a thick fold of curtain to eat. Mum said no eating before dinner, but he is hungry. He opens the pack and takes out a crumbly treat. It's a wheat flour biscuit, laced with crushed nuts. He lifts it to his mouth, too young to understand his allergy to nuts.
How allergic is he? How quickly does he react? How many biscuits will he eat? Is he making a noise that someone hears? Are they even looking in that room? Perhaps a pet or a baby sibling makes the discovery. Will it be in time?
2.1:
Every morning, he showers, shaves, puts on his suit, laughs at the breakfast table. He puts his briefcase in the car, backs out of the driveway and heads up the road, the same way he has done for twenty years. Only, at the end, he turns left instead of right. He's told no-one he has lost his job.
What does he do? Look for another job? Go fishing? Start drinking? Find himself a rich widow? Keep driving? Why did he lose his job and when? What about money? Credit, savings or a payout? What is he feeling? What does he think will happen if he tells?
2.2:
The alarm rings, he turns over. Time to get up, love.' His wife heads for the shower. He says he is sick. He is sick for a week, then a fortnight, but he refuses to go to the doctor. His family worries, take care of him, tell him not to worry, just get well. Always independent, he is surprised at how good it feels to have others take care of him for a change. But, his independence strikes back and he knows he needs to find ideas for his future.
Will he tell his family and get their input and support? Is there something he has always wanted to do but thought was a pipe dream? Will he start giving his time for charitable works, or study and retrain, start his own business, travel? Perhaps he looks up old friends, calls in favours, how will that turn out?
3.1
The scream is long, high, filled with terror. Her stomach flips, her heart thumps, her knees go weak. For a long time she stands frozen, listening, waiting, too frightened to do anything. There are no other screams, no other noise. None of the neighbours have come out. A dog barks somewhere in the distance but apart from that, the world seems empty of everything except that scream.
Did she even hear it? Was it really a scream? Could it have been a car screeching? A cat? What if that drunk next door has just killed his wife? Or what if the young woman on the other side has just found her baby dead in his cot? Who screamed? Why? What will she do?
3.2
The scream motivates her into spontaneous action. She flies through the front door and into the road. People are everywhere, and everything is confused. Neighbours have hands to their mouths, their eyes round and glistening with shock. They mutter and stare and point. Someone notices her and it starts a ripple as people look at her from the corner of their eyes, move aside, throwing down a gauntlet.
Why are they looking at her? Has someone been killed, injured? Where's her prize winning dog? What's happened? Accident? Fight? Attack? Crash? Seizure, heart attack, stroke? Are they alive? What will this mean to the woman?
There are any number of directions these stories could go in. They could become flash fiction, a short story, the opening of a novel. These ideas aren't new, exotic or fantastical. They could happen to any of us. They are simple ideas but they can become consuming stories.
The trick is to have a basic idea, write without thinking too much about it. Quality of the writing is unimportant at this stage. What matters is where you take it. And you do that by asking questions. See the action taking place in your mind's eye so it comes to life. Think about the person it is happening to, how they feel, what affect it has on their life, what they can do about it, what they decide to do about it. If you are writing a short story, it might end there, with the decision. If you are writing a novel, the consequences of the decision will make up the story.
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Top-level comments on this article: (8 total)What a fabulous - and fertile - imagination you have, Hannah! This is such a good illustration of how to develop a simple idea. Thanks, I enjoyed reading your article!Hi Jennifer, Thanks for taking the time to read and give feedback. It is appreciated. Happy writing,Hannah
I usually got out to the movies to get ideas on what to right. Something always triggers my mind at the theater.Hi Walter, Yes, ideas are everywhere and it is always exciting knowing where our 'muse' resides! I find other people's imaginations just set my mind racing! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Happy writing.Hannah
Great step-by-step advice and model Hannah! I am sure many writers will benefit from this! I do agree that sometimes as writers we forget the hard work that is involved and we quit evolving and improving our craft! Thanks for sharing!Hi Laura,I know you have a good imagination by your frequency of articles. I think sometimes it's more about having confidence in yourself to get ideas rather than finding where they hide. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Happy writing.Hannah
Hannah,You had me completely locked in the way you wrote this piece. Wonderful information here to help in my writing. Thank you so much!I thoroughly enjoyed this.
I found the article interesting. The thought I had after the read through was how to grab the reader with curiosity. Humans are curious by nature, but the subject of the mystery needs to be interesting to the reader.
Thank you for sharing this. The ideas are great.
Interesting article Hannah. I agree, there are ideas everywhere. If I could only put them into articles properly I enjoyed yours greatly.
another good article from you! thanks for the creatively presented ideas on creativity!
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