To add to the previous post, here are some other ideas for generating ideas. Now there are tons of books out there, and also apps that you can download to help generate story ideas. But there are also processes you can use.
For example, there is the notion of free flowing story generation. This process requires that one dismiss the inner critic and the editor within your brain, and simply begin with a blank piece of paper (or screen) and just start writing anything. Whatever is the first word that pops into your brain write it down, even if it is just a random thought about something that is going on in your life. To increase the flowing of story during this process, set an egg timer for twenty minutes and have yourself simply write anything, even if it is gibberish. Don't stop flowing across the paper with words for twenty minutes straight. Sometimes you end up with something that could lead to a story, sometimes not. But imagine if you did this every day. Within a year you would have 365 sessions of writing, and somewhere in that is bound to be a few good ideas for stories that you could then flesh out into something interesting and engaging. I've done experiments in this area of free flowing story generation, and much to my amazement it has led to some decent ideas.
If you're not into using apps, and prefer generating story ideas using something more tangible, I can suggest the following book. "The Amazing Story Generator" is a flip book that allows for you to randomly set up ideas where the story generator gives you a setting, a type of character, and a situation. I've actually used it, and come up with some very interesting stories. For example, I generated the following story idea: the setting was a zombie apocalypse, the main character was an extraterrestrial with amnesia, and the situation was that the extraterrestrial had discovered that it was pregnant. This story idea, as strange as it sounds, actually led to a great rough draft for a short story that is currently going through the editing process.
Here's the Amazon link for the "The Amazing Story Generator" - http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Story-Generator-Creates-Thousands/dp/1452111006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445176568&sr=1-1&keywords=story+generator
In the meantime, keep writing.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Idea Generating
I'm occasionally asked where I get some of my story ideas. As a writer of speculative fiction (read: science fiction, fantasy, suspense, horror), I have to work my imagination muscle a tad bit more than would be necessary if writing in other genre's. I know, I know, I am going to hear from the mainstream writers that romance stories or mystery/detective stories require just as much imagination muscle as speculative fiction, and they may be true to a point, but in speculative fiction a writer has to really take something that is clearly not real or clearly could not exist in the real universe, and make it appear real enough to suspend the disbelief of the reader. Trust me, it takes a bit of creative elbow grease to make that happen.
Case in point: I was once accused by a fellow writer (in a joking fashion, mind you) that I was apparently inhaling or otherwise ingesting illicit and/or psychedelic substances upon their reading the initial chapter of my latest novel, "One Second Before Awakening". That first chapter described a scene where the main character was sucked into a painting rendered by Salvador Dali, and the character was immediately confronted by two ferocious tigers that had jumped out of the mouth of a giant goldfish and were about to attack a naked woman lying upon a rocky ocean islet. It's not everyday that sort of thing really happens, and your typical "whodunit" mystery novel does not have this sort of scene. As for where I came up with the idea, it was quite simple.
I had started with a premise: What would happen to a person if they suddenly found themselves trapped within the world of a painted image. I took this premise one step further by adding, "what if the painted image had a fantastic or surreal theme to it?" From there the story took off when I decided I would choose an image rendered by the famous 20th Century master, Salvador Dali. I found a book with several of his paintings in it, and from there let my imagination take over.
This is one of many ways to jump start your creativity. Find an image, whether it is a photograph or a painting, and begin writing a draft of what is occurring in that image. You may be surprised at what could come of it. In the above case it led to a full length novel.
Another way to generate story ideas is to find an idea generator application. These are apps that you can find (for free in most cases) where random plot and character elements are generated providing one with the initial spark for a possible story line. One such idea generator is called "Writing Prompts", which can be found through the Google Play Store.
Here's a link to take you straight to it https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev17163.app255216
It's a simple program, it's free, and it is a small example of the numerous idea generator apps that are currently available to writers.
In upcoming posts, I will share some other app links as well as some other methods for jump starting your creativity. In the meantime, share any methods you use to come up with ideas for stories. And don't forget -- write, write, write.
Case in point: I was once accused by a fellow writer (in a joking fashion, mind you) that I was apparently inhaling or otherwise ingesting illicit and/or psychedelic substances upon their reading the initial chapter of my latest novel, "One Second Before Awakening". That first chapter described a scene where the main character was sucked into a painting rendered by Salvador Dali, and the character was immediately confronted by two ferocious tigers that had jumped out of the mouth of a giant goldfish and were about to attack a naked woman lying upon a rocky ocean islet. It's not everyday that sort of thing really happens, and your typical "whodunit" mystery novel does not have this sort of scene. As for where I came up with the idea, it was quite simple.
I had started with a premise: What would happen to a person if they suddenly found themselves trapped within the world of a painted image. I took this premise one step further by adding, "what if the painted image had a fantastic or surreal theme to it?" From there the story took off when I decided I would choose an image rendered by the famous 20th Century master, Salvador Dali. I found a book with several of his paintings in it, and from there let my imagination take over.
This is one of many ways to jump start your creativity. Find an image, whether it is a photograph or a painting, and begin writing a draft of what is occurring in that image. You may be surprised at what could come of it. In the above case it led to a full length novel.
Another way to generate story ideas is to find an idea generator application. These are apps that you can find (for free in most cases) where random plot and character elements are generated providing one with the initial spark for a possible story line. One such idea generator is called "Writing Prompts", which can be found through the Google Play Store.
Here's a link to take you straight to it https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev17163.app255216
It's a simple program, it's free, and it is a small example of the numerous idea generator apps that are currently available to writers.
In upcoming posts, I will share some other app links as well as some other methods for jump starting your creativity. In the meantime, share any methods you use to come up with ideas for stories. And don't forget -- write, write, write.
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