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.