![]() ![]() ![]() Since then, Prompts has grown to a community of more than 450,000 authors, complete with its own literary magazine, Prompted. So we started the weekly Creative Writing Prompts newsletter. We wanted to try and help authors form a regular writing habit and also give them a place to proudly display their work. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.When the idea to start a weekly newsletter with writing inspiration first came to us, we decided that we wanted to do more than provide people with topics to write about. This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. ![]() How’s that for your very own story idea generator? Now go make up some good story ideas and write! Pick them deliberately or randomize them completely either way, you’re sure to get some interesting story ideas. It impacts the way your protagonist thinks, feels, and behaves.Ĭhoose an interesting backdrop that will really challenge your protagonist or highlight her journey.įor example, if your protagonist is on a journey of inner and outer peace, why not paint her story against a background of war, strife, or unrest?Ĭharacter, desire, resistance, change and settings. It is often a character in and of itself. The settings of a story are more than a backdrop. The longer the story, the more scope you have to mold your character in new ways. A haughty salt shaker must learn humility in order to find peace in its life.Īnd so on.A skeptic woman must learn to believe before she can attain the career of her dreams.A shy man overcomes his shyness in order to pursue true love.If the protagonist is the same at the end as she’d been in the beginning, something is missing.įor short stories, the change can be as simple as a single trait: The Fourth Element: ChangeĪ story is all about the character’s journey, and that journey is all about change. I like to add two more elements to the mix. With these three elements, Orson Scott Card claimed at that panel, you have a solid story idea that can be developed into any media and length. If you have a strong character, you will need a powerful obstacle to stand in her way - otherwise, the reader won’t be convinced that the struggle is real and desperate. Whatever it is, make sure the resistance matches the character. It can be a question of legality or consensus. It can be another person or a group of people. It can be physical, emotional, spiritual or cultural. So the next critical element is the roadblock that stands in your character’s way. If your character wanted something and got it right off the bat, you wouldn’t have a story, would you? It can be a less active desire, like wanting to be left alone.īut it has to be a specific, attainable desire that will move your character throughout your story.Ĭan’t think of a good desire? Re-read your character’s background, try to get into that person’s shoes and think of what you would have wanted in her stead. It can be an active desire, like running a marathon or getting a promotion. What drives her? What makes her get out of bed in the morning? Your character must have some desires in life. Interesting combinations make for richer stories, so keep that in mind as you fill out your character’s background. And, of course, creative character names.Family status (parents, brothers, pets, etc.Marital status (single, married, divorced, three-year marriage contract…).Age (from toddler to elder and even eternal).Gender (if applicable–and isn’t that a story idea in itself!).If you don’t have a specific idea for a character, make one up randomly. The character might be a chair (I wrote one like that!), but it has to be there. The First Element: CharacterĪ story cannot take place without creating complex characters. Here’s how to come up with good story ideas. The result? A five-element story idea generator that will rarely fail you. With time, I’ve included my own little twist on his method. In that panel, he opened my eyes to what a good story idea looks like, and how to generate story ideas without any effort. A strategy for developing good story ideas I’ve been there time and again, until by chance I attended a panel led by Orson Scott Card. You’re sitting in front of a blank page, you dip into your well of inspiration, and you come up with nothing.Īt most the moldy remains of an idea you had in seventh grade.
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