3 Quick and Easy Ways to Generate Story Ideas
BY SHERY MA BELLE ARRIETA-RUSS
There are many ways you can generate
ideas you can use for your stories, articles and other creative pieces.
Start with the three ways given below:
1. Put Your 5 Senses to Work
A simple but effective way to generate
fresh ideas from a single concept, idea or object is to describe or
illustrate it using the 5 senses — sight, smell, touch, taste, sound.
For you to do: Generate 5 specific
images or concrete examples (one example for each sense) for the
following:
- vindication (what's the smell of
vindication? how does it taste? how does it sound? what does it look
like? how does it feel?)
- hesitation
- celebration
2. Take Advantage of Your Conflicts
Conflict is a part of life. It's also a
source of creativity. You only need to look at yourself and examine your
experiences to come up with ideas based on conflicts.
For you to do: What's stopping you from
doing something? Who is in the way of you getting what you want? What's
stopping you from taking a career leap? Brainstorm for conflicts in your
life and come up with at least 15 in your list.
3. It's OK to Call People Names
Generate nicknames or terms that
capture the lifestyles, attitudes or characteristics of certain groups
of people.
For example, the nicknames I came up
for the kind of people I encountered on the bus when I used to commute
to work and back were: space-hog, slumper, fidgeter and refined. The
terms described how the people on the bus behaved as they sat. [They
were useful because I was able to avoid the space-hogs and the fidgeters
when choosing a seat. Sitting beside a slumper was all right, since most
slumpers kept their slumps within their space ;o)]
For you to do: Generate nicknames or
terms for the following groups of people:
- cashiers
- waiters
- teachers
- employees
- actors
Begin using these 3 simple ways of
generating ideas today. Before long, you'll be churning out one idea
after another with ease. That's creativity at work!
Copyright © 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ
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