To anyone with a creative mind, making up stories is fun and a part of everyday life. I'm not just talking about the stories you write down and read to others, I'm talking about anytime you tell a lie, think about a scenario, and even when you dream. There are those, and I'm sad to admit it, that do not have an imagination. But these people are rare and if you are here, I know you have some imagination!
Now story ideas are easy for some and difficult for others. Look at your experiences and try writing down your dreams. These stories don't have to make any sense whatsoever. This is your paper! You can write about how you were gardening and suddenly a magical gopher whisked you away to Russia where an alien (space) abducted you thinking you were the long dead Catherine the Great! Your story is your story and you shouldn't let some person tell you that it's a bad idea. If you are just writing for fun, you can write about anything you want. Discover a planet, become emperor, make war on bison, insert yourself behind Washington's troops, or even just drive down to Starbucks to people watch. This is your blank template to create a world.
If you have trouble imagining story ideas, don't worry. Maybe you should try a writing prompt or writing down something that really happened to you. At creativewritingprompts.com, there are some fantastic and imaginative ideas with hundreds of ideas to jump start story writing. For those of you who want more of a challenge, one site that will give you challenging writing prompts is languageisavirus.com where you can generate writing prompts through this generator that uses advanced ideas and sometimes requires a literary background. These prompts are not as much story ideas as writing exercises, but for those of you who like to write and know some literary terms, this is a good site.
Three examples from creativewritingprompts.com are:
#37-Use the following words in a story: hypocrite, cookie jar, city, telephone.
#121-Start your story with this: "She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled."
#295-In 250 words, write from the point of view of a ball of yarn being chased by a cat.
Three examples from languageisavirus.com are:
-Experiment with writing in a group, collaborative work: a group writing individually off of each other's work over a long period of time in the same room; a group contributing to the same work, sentence by sentence or line by line; one writer being fed information and ideas while the other writes; writing, leaving instructions for another writer to fill in what you can't describe; compiling a book or work structured by your own language around the writings of others; or a group working and writing off of each other's dream writing.
-Get a group of words, either randomly selected or thought up, then form these words (only) into a piece of writing-whatever the words allow. Let them demand their own form, or, use some words in a predetermined way. Design words.
-The possibilities of synesthesia in relation to language and words: the word and the letter as sensations, colors evoked by letters, sensations caused by the sound of a word as apart from its meaning, etc. And the effect of this phenomenon on you; for example, write in the water, on a moving vehicle.
Three examples that I have come up with for you:
-In five minutes, write about what you would do if you heard the world was going to end by 7:00 pm. Make sure you record what time it is when you are writing this prompt. It can be a list, a state of mind, a poem, an adventure or anything else you can think of.
-Linda has just stolen a diamond worth $5,000,000. How or will she get away, where will she go, how will she get rid of the diamond, will they ever catch her?
-"I watched in amazement as..." Finish the sentence and elaborate on the story.
I hope these were helpful. Remember the importance of not plagiarizing, though fanart(stories written about characters or set in a place from a show, movie, story, etc.) is fine as long as you don't claim ownership of the characters you didn't actually create. Untilour next writing exercise, keep writing! (and happy novel writing month)
Now story ideas are easy for some and difficult for others. Look at your experiences and try writing down your dreams. These stories don't have to make any sense whatsoever. This is your paper! You can write about how you were gardening and suddenly a magical gopher whisked you away to Russia where an alien (space) abducted you thinking you were the long dead Catherine the Great! Your story is your story and you shouldn't let some person tell you that it's a bad idea. If you are just writing for fun, you can write about anything you want. Discover a planet, become emperor, make war on bison, insert yourself behind Washington's troops, or even just drive down to Starbucks to people watch. This is your blank template to create a world.
If you have trouble imagining story ideas, don't worry. Maybe you should try a writing prompt or writing down something that really happened to you. At creativewritingprompts.com, there are some fantastic and imaginative ideas with hundreds of ideas to jump start story writing. For those of you who want more of a challenge, one site that will give you challenging writing prompts is languageisavirus.com where you can generate writing prompts through this generator that uses advanced ideas and sometimes requires a literary background. These prompts are not as much story ideas as writing exercises, but for those of you who like to write and know some literary terms, this is a good site.
Three examples from creativewritingprompts.com are:
#37-Use the following words in a story: hypocrite, cookie jar, city, telephone.
#121-Start your story with this: "She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled."
#295-In 250 words, write from the point of view of a ball of yarn being chased by a cat.
Three examples from languageisavirus.com are:
-Experiment with writing in a group, collaborative work: a group writing individually off of each other's work over a long period of time in the same room; a group contributing to the same work, sentence by sentence or line by line; one writer being fed information and ideas while the other writes; writing, leaving instructions for another writer to fill in what you can't describe; compiling a book or work structured by your own language around the writings of others; or a group working and writing off of each other's dream writing.
-Get a group of words, either randomly selected or thought up, then form these words (only) into a piece of writing-whatever the words allow. Let them demand their own form, or, use some words in a predetermined way. Design words.
-The possibilities of synesthesia in relation to language and words: the word and the letter as sensations, colors evoked by letters, sensations caused by the sound of a word as apart from its meaning, etc. And the effect of this phenomenon on you; for example, write in the water, on a moving vehicle.
Three examples that I have come up with for you:
-In five minutes, write about what you would do if you heard the world was going to end by 7:00 pm. Make sure you record what time it is when you are writing this prompt. It can be a list, a state of mind, a poem, an adventure or anything else you can think of.
-Linda has just stolen a diamond worth $5,000,000. How or will she get away, where will she go, how will she get rid of the diamond, will they ever catch her?
-"I watched in amazement as..." Finish the sentence and elaborate on the story.
I hope these were helpful. Remember the importance of not plagiarizing, though fanart(stories written about characters or set in a place from a show, movie, story, etc.) is fine as long as you don't claim ownership of the characters you didn't actually create. Untilour next writing exercise, keep writing! (and happy novel writing month)
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