How to: Get an Idea for a Story!

If you've never written a story before, or even if you've written a million, sometimes you just have trouble thinking of an idea that you want to put into words. If you're like me, your mind is all over the place and you have a hard time reeling in your brain to focus on one thing at a time. Read on for a few tips to at least get a jump start on your story.

Getting an Idea

Wait! Before we jump into anything, you need an idea first, right? Here's a quick list of things that you can do that just might give you the inspiration to put that pencil to the paper or your fingers to the keys.

1. Listen to music
2. Take a road trip
3.  Take a long walk
4. Visit a national park
5. Watch the clouds
6. Take a long walk
7. Relax on the beach
8. Watch people (sounds creepy, but you can spot some really interesting people around the way that could inspire a character for your story)
9. Read poetry
10. Read a book

Try all of these and you might just get a light bulb over your head!

Genre

If you simply just can't get an idea, don't feel discouraged. Here's a more step-by-step procedure of finding an idea. 

Do I want my story to be a beautiful romance with a little horror tossed in? Or maybe an urban fantasy with plenty of vampires and a modern day twist? I usually don't stick my story in a genre until after I've written the first few chapters, but selecting a genre earlier could help you set the direction you want for your story. Try pulling up a list of genres and going through them one by one. There will be a few that stand out to you. Once you've selected a genre (or two), try taking out a sheet of paper and jotting down the first words that come to your mind after reading the genre name. Here are a few examples:

Genre: Chick Lit

First Words That Come to Mind: girly, shopping, cute guys

Genre: Crime
First Words: murderer, detectives,car chases, guns

Do those groups of words sound interesting to you? If so, grab another piece of paper and pencil and start writing down some ideas. Then, read on for the next step in completing your idea!

Plot

Got your ideas down? Good, 'cause now it's time to start getting into the nitty-gritty! That's right--it's plot time. Now that you have a genre or at least an idea of the direction you want to head in, it's time to start thinking. Let's just say you decided on the Crime genre. You saw the words and just got really excited! 

Ready for more hands-on? I am!

Take out some more paper or pull up Notepad because we're about to get into this. Look at the words that you wrote down and read them over carefully. Now, try to write down a quick plot, incorporating the words you jotted down earlier. Here's an example:

Genre: Crime

First Words: murderer, detectives,car chases, guns

Quick Plot: A psychopathic killer is reeking havoc and spreading fear throughout the town of Bearsville. Only Detective Rawr will be able to stop this murderer. His only tools? His trusty tricycle and water gun. Time is against him...

Okay, so that wasn't the best plot, but you get the idea. If you chose more than one genre, do the same thing for the rest of them. Try coming up with more than one storyline for each separate genre. When you're done, you should have a nice list of story lines to sort through.

Characters

Now, for my favorite part--creating the characters for your story! Usually, I begin with the protagonist, build the characters around him, and then move on to the antagonist. We'll start with the protagonist first. Consider the following:

1. Male or female?
2. Personality?
3. Background?
4. Family?
5. Friends?
6. Appearance?
7. Flaws? Why and how?

Once you've gone through the list, you should have a pretty well-rounded character. As I write, my characters usually grow with me, so maybe you'll find yourself doing the same. You can go through this same list for each of your characters. This is just a basic list so feel free to add more detail!

Once you have these things down, other aspects, such as setting and a deeper story, will fall into place. Remember, don't stress about yanking an idea out of thin air. It will come to you!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!
Bootsie