WRITING HELP. TIPS

⋆ idea generators

o. writing help!
( IDEA GENERATORS! )

' some ways to formulate
     ideas, both big and small;  '

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BEND A WELL-WORN STORY
the stories of cinderella, sleeping beauty, and dracula have been worked over and over. remember this; some stories are public domain and as such you can use their plot, their characters, and/or their premise. twist it with your own ideas and you could have a winner!!

READ THE NEWSPAPER
find the weirdest or most mysterious news story you can and write an alternative path to/ending for that news story (be sure to change names and details if you wish to submit it for publication). you can bend a news story to fit almost any genre, too!!

WHAT-IF QUESTIONS
look at history, or current events, or even novels and stories you love and ask yourself "what if".

MAKE USE OF JUNK MAIL
have you ever had one of those emails or letters claiming to be from a nigerian, or russian, or vietnamese, prince/princess who will pay you if you just let them use your bank account to claim funds? well, why not write a story about the people who make these scams, the people who fall for them, or even story in which it is true!!

OLD FRIENDS, NEW HORIZONS
invent a fantastical, or realistically grim depending on your bend, for an old acquaintance with whom you have lost touch!!

EAVESDROP
now i'm not suggesting you listen for secrets behind closed doors (unless that's really your thing), but we all know there are times when you catch a snippet of conversation in a public place and wish you knew what came next, before, or how it started.... why not write your own version?

PEOPLE WATCH
an extension of the last, but bear with me. watch the way people move, what they wear, and think about the kind of person this might make them. write a story about the person you create, or simply slot your new character into an existing plot.

ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
much like the what-if question, but a little more involved. after all, the man in the high castle is an alternative history; what would have happened if we came to believe the nazis won the war?

WRITE A FIX IT
have you ever been disappointed by a story or movie? write a fix-it scene or story that resolves things the way you would have liked!

TRY A PLOT GENERATOR
this one will actually generate a short story, novel, script outline for you if you fill out the descriptors. it usually spews out sub-par offerings, but if you're stuck you can have some real fun and maybe harvest a few small ideas at the same time.

START WITH A WORD
pick a word you don't know the meaning of and look it up, or a word that you just like the sound of. make a mind map of all the associations it has for you and write a story using that inspiration/guidance.

PICK A PICTURE
google an image, or look at a painting and make a story that fits the scene depicted. if you want to get really out there pick an abstract and write about what you see in it.

WRITE FOR OTHERS
ask your friends and family what they really like to, or really want to, read and write something just for them.

RE-INVENT A FAIRY TALE
avoid a well-worn one like snow white and the seven dwarves and go for something like the woman who lived in a shoe, or rumpelstiltskin. better yet you could write a new fairy tale using established mythological creatures like, for example, ghillie dubh of scottish folklore.