The Idea Generation Game

Everybody loves a good story. Whether experienced through celluloid, television, radio waves or via good old-fashioned paper (modern paper is just as good) we have a multitude of genres and mediums at our disposal to remind us of what a good story is. After all it's probably the love of stories which is a major factor behind one's urge to write. So coming up with a good idea for a story should be easy, right?

Not so much! So, let's generate some ideas...

Note to self...!
If you don't have a notebook, buy one. It may be obvious but is the most essential tool for any writer...in fact it shares the top spot with a pen!

I own a lot of notebooks, as my photo suggests. Now this is partly due to my unhealthy addiction to stationary but is also because these have accumulated over the years as I write almost everything down that I think may be story-worthy. Sometime this could be as long as a couple of pages or a kind of journal entry but most of the time it's just a title, a subject matter, a line of dialogue I heard someone say or a joke they told me, an amusing incident that happened to me or a friend, a character based on someone I met, a place I visited etc etc...everything! Even keep the notebook by your bed as you'll regret it when that most vivid of dreams soon evaporates into thin air by the time your feet hit the bedroom floor and your day begins.

Think of the contents of your notebook(s) as a box of missing puzzle pieces belonging to thousands of jigsaws. One day one of those pieces will help you to complete the full picture. You won't use every idea you've noted down but when you do it will be worth it and it gets you writing and thinking about writing on a daily basis which will help to nurture your craft.

Write what you know!
It's a cliche, but so true. We all have our own thoughts and opinions and have had vastly different experiences from one another. Try to think what events in your life have had an emotional effect on you and think of ways you can apply it to a story.

For example, The Chicken Shed Reunited was my first play about a reunion between three friends who were bonded together by a mutual fear of a bully whilst at school. Essentially the story comes from my experiences of being bullied at school and how those experiences have affected me as I've become an adult. Going back to my previous point around using notebooks, the name 'The Chicken Shed' was a title I'd written down many years ago and was originally intended as an idea for a Famous Five-esque book based on a group of kids who hung out in one of their parent's sheds to escape a gang of bullies.

...try to come up with the idea for a story based on something that has happened to you, good or bad. Contradiciton in terms as it is, everyone is unique...what's your story?

Use the News
As much I feel drowned in the the 24 hour news culture we live in the smallest of news stories can be good writing fodder.

For instance, going for some main features on the BBC News website at time of writing I will use two examples:
1. BBC Presenter reveals gagging order' - the story was originally about BBC presenter Andrew Marr revealing that he took out a super-injunction to protect his family's privacy after having an affair early in his career. You could create a story based on this alone but try to use the news item as a foundation and brainstorm around it for instance your story could be about a public figure trying to cover his tracks in order to save his career/marriage/life. Or, to add a different spin on it, the story could follow a serious journalist who stumbles upon some celebrity gossip that would earn him a fortune and would kickstart his career in the tabloid profession, despite his morals lying with hard-hitting journalism for a more broadsheet based publication.
or
2. A video interview entitled 'Sir Elton John on becoming a father' - your story could be the diary of a young child who is raised by two gay same-sex parents. Alternatively the story could be about a celebrity who is tracked down by the child they never knew they had.

These are just loose suggestions to two random articles, but whatever your preferred theme or genre there's something for everybody. Give it a try.

Picture it!
Look at a photo in the newspaper or just do a google image search on a random topic of your choosing. If the photo contains people, who are they? What are their names? Why are they in that location? It's amazing how once you have a visible point of focus you can start ellaborating on the information you've been given. E.G. I typed 'People' into google and on the first page of results was this picture. To the right is my initial dramatisation of the photo.

This is Mark, George, Emily and Sarah. Just before this photo they were walking along, laughing and joking that their friend Bryan, who is always over-the-top, had asked to meet them all in a secluded cafe as their lives were in danger. Classic Bryan!

They're looking across the street because a bomb has just gone off in the cafe Bryan had asked to meet them in. Dum dum dum....






There are plenty of other sources of inspiration for a story. As Abi Burman commented in my last post, the 'missing persons' column is a good one. I also like looking at the classifieds of items people are trying to get rid of...why are they trying to get rid of that item?

Anyway...

Hopefully you've found some of these techniques useful. If you've got any of your own suggestions please feel free to add them by commenting on this post.

Starting Short

"The townsfolk kept glaring angrily at Jack as they discussed what to do with 1200 pounds of rotting giant."
Goose Egg by Jim Phelps.

A few years ago I couldn't finish a single project. One of the reasons for this failure was that I was setting myself too big a target; expecting to write a fully rounded film script within the space of a couple of weekends. Not only does this impossible task break my one main writing mantra of 'Writing is rewriting', which I will address at a later date, but it was also a reminder that I expected too much from myself. This is where writing short stories became an invaluable part of developing my writing skills.

A short story can be any length from a few words (as above) to a few thousand. I am very impatient in that I want to see results soon after I have the initial idea. Writing short stories means that you are able to have a finished article in a much shorter space of time, even with multiple drafts. The story can always be elongated/adapted into the format of your choosing at a later time.

Though the short story has helped me with my confidence in my writing let me be clear that I do not see writing one as only a means to an end. Quite the contrary, it is a powerful art form in itself. A full scale novel has the time to set scenes and devote whole chapters to describing landscapes, sewing the seed of subplots and building up dramatic tension. A short story has only a few pages to hook the reader in, engage them and leave them wanting more. I would be proud to make a career from being a short story writer.

If you are keen to try writing a short story, there are a few elements I always keep in mind:

• The story should start in the middle of something. It's up to you to draw the reader in; to want to find out more.
• Keep the time frame of events short: there's no room for long drawn out quests, significant character growth or a detailed account of a week in the life of a tax adviser (and if that's your chosen subject I pray it's a comedy!).
• Don't have too many characters or locations. You haven't got that long to define too many elements.
• Make sure you know what you are trying to say.
• Make every word count.

Writing short stories has certainly improved the quality of my writing and the quantity of finished pieces on my hard-drive to satisfy my impatient self and assure me that I can finish a piece of writing. I've also found that working to a deadline helps and so I enter short story competitions on a regular basis, often specifically writing an entry for a contest. The benefit is you have a finished product you can look back on with the bonus of potentially winning a prize or getting published.

Below you will find a very useful website I use to enter any short story competitions. As you will see there are a diverse range of themes and word counts ranging between 5,000 words to 154 characters (a story told within one mobile phone text...an alternative activity when on the bus I find!). Entries to competitions can be free or sometimes stretch to only a few quid with some discounts on multiple submissions.

http://www.prizemagic.co.uk/html/writing_comps.htm

If you have any questions on writing short stories, drop me an email and I'll do my best to answer them. I'm also open to any requests on subject matters for future blogs.

Rough Draft...

So...my first post...and I'm terrified! It seems silly, I know, but I can't help it.

Some people write for themselves. They may never have any intention of getting their writing published, performed or even seen by another pair of eyes. In a way I am envious of these writers because where I intend to stay true to myself I also want others to experience my writing.

The idea of getting my play performed, novel published or screenplay produced gives me tingles of excitement...which soon turn into gut-wrenching feelings of anxiety that nothing I can produce can be good enough to a theatregoer, novel reader or Hollywood executive...well, maybe not the latter. The thought of being a writer scares the life out of me...which is exactly why I'm writing this blog.

I'm writing it in order to help me. It's a diary, essentially, of how my writing is going to ensure that I don't do what I always do and stop and start far too frequently than I should on my writing projects which completely breaks any momentum I've built up and ensures I continually feel like I'm picking up a pen for the first time when I start a new project, no matter what size it is (the project, not the pen). If I'm putting pressure on myself to regularly write a blog then it means I am writing regularly and that can only be a good thing...lets see how that goes.

For those who want to join me on my 'journey', a word now completely destroyed by the X Factor however I'm going to attempt to claim it back, I will be detailing my experiences plus the odd post sharing hints and tips I come across as well as writing competitions or resources that I feel may interest others.

My first play, The Chicken Shed Re-united, is going to be performed to a paying audience in July by the Kelvin Players of Bristol. In the run up to the first performance I will be reminiscing on the process of my writing the play from inception to stage as well as regularly updating my undoubted upcoming feelings of crippling fear and anxiety. I'd love for you to join me.

Well, that wasn't too bad. Anyway, I won't bore you any longer. I'm not pretending I know what I'm doing or that my words of wisdom along the way will be any wiser than your own. However I've found that learning how other writers go about developing their craft and increasing self confidence in their ability is incredibly reassuring...so please do check in every now again, even if it's to see how not to do it!