How To Create Writing Ideas

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Writing ideas surround us. Everywhere
we go writing ideas await.

Pick a writing idea with mass appeal.
I'm referring to ideas that a large
segment of the population would
read, and it must excite your
imagination.

Jot down ideas as you find them.

Every story has a beginning,
middle, and an ending.

Let's look at how writing ideas are
picked.

1. Have you met a person during the
day? This person was over-dressed
for the place you saw him/her at.

He/she jumps to his/her feet, from
time to time, and starts dancing.
There isn't any music playing when
he/she does it.

There are many avenues to take
with the idea.

2. A prank that turned out funny
makes interesting reading.

3. Certain slang words can be the
start of a plot.

A character's use of certain
words ends him/her up in
murder.

4. A news head-line turned upside
down provides excellent writing
ideas.

5. A saying a relative repeats.
"Mark my words, if you go
there only misery will follow."

Pick a setting, place, and
start your plot.

6. An animal does something
funny, odd, or silly.

Spin the writing idea into
an interesting tale.

7. Write a story around an
out-dated piece of clothing.

8. You heard a funny story.
Write about it.

Select the characters for the
story.

Start the problem, issue, of the
story on page one.

Stir-in suspense. Suspense is
indecision, doubt, anxiety. Sprinkle
around suspense if you're working
with a western, romance, mystery,
or any genre. Suspense pulls
the reader into the story. It keeps
the reader wanting to know what
will happen next.

Each page should contain something
exciting. A threat of an approaching
doom, and few descriptive paragraphs.

Hint at the abduction of the main
character, for example. Perhaps,
the main character's belongings are
misplaced, rearranged.

What will happen next?

Let the characters show the story
through actions and dialogue.

Tie-up loose ends.

Set your story aside. The longer
your project, the more time you
need away from it.

After three-fourteen days away
from your project, critique it.

Have you found an interesting
writing idea today?

Easy Steps To Writing An Adventure Story

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The adventure story takes the
main character, protagonist, to
a new place, different from his/her
own. The place should be dangerous
for the main character to be in.

Read adventure stories. Take them
apart, and re-write them from your
imagination.

Take notes. Did you see a better
writing idea? Jot it down. Make
sure the writing idea is from your
imagination.

Let's look at steps to make writing
an adventure story, novel, easier.
The following steps will fill-in the
story, and bring it to life.

A. What adventure will the main
character have?

1. A person finds an ancient coin,
but it's a door-way to the past.
The right spoken words will
unlock the door.
2. How will the main character
find the words?
3. Will he/she want to?

B. A time period is decided on.

1. The coin, from the above example,
takes the main character from
our current century to the eighteenth
century.

C. Pick the characters for the story.

1. Will a male or female be the main
character?
2. Will friends make the journey?
3. A main character and his/her pet?

D. The reason for the adventure?

1. The main character is always
complaining how boring his/her
life is?
2. A small town kid looking for
an adventure?
3. An adult looking to explore,
has something to prove?

E. Show-case the events.

1. The main character goes to
a library, and accidentally
happens upon the correct
words?
2. A person discovers the secrets
of the coin?

The story is started in the middle
of a problem, issue.

The main character is transported
back in time, for example, opens
the story. He/she grabs his/her pet
before disappearing. Or, a friend
jumps into the hole before it closes.

Gather-up, share, the other ingredients.

The antagonist is a person opposing your
main character. Make his/her presence
known in the opening scene.

He/she wants to steal the object, thing,
that made the main character's trip
possible.

The main character struggles, at least,
three times with the antagonist before
succeeding.

The main character's goals are to get
back home, and stop the antagonist from
returning with him/her.

The antagonist is willing to kill for
the coin.

Self-preservation is the main
character's motivation.

The antagonist wants to slide in and
out of time periods. He/she wants
to change pass mistakes, lives.

The antagonist is motivated by curiosity,
possibly greed. He/she will stop at
nothing to get the coin.

As with any other writing idea, turn
it upside down. Select an idea that
most excites your imagination.

Writing Time: How To Maximize It

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Writing should last, at least,
two hours everyday. Perhaps, you'd
prefer six days a week. The more
you write, the better you'll become.

You treat writing as a profession, and
your writing time is five days a week?

Writing has to be balanced with your
life-style.

Find a place in the attic, spare room,
basement, or any area designed for
writing.

Every book, sheet of paper, should
pertain to writing.

Make a habit of jotting down
ideas as they bump into you.
Write down sentences about
the idea.

When you return to the idea,
you'll have a reminder of
your original thoughts.

It saves time, and allows
maximum writing time.
You skip the step of
pondering why you made
a note on the writing idea.

Keep your ideas in a file,
folder, box, to easily refer
to them.

A filing system maximizes time.
It stops you from searching in
every corner of your writing place.
Simply, look in your writing idea
file.

A suggestion is to file writing
ideas alphabetically, or categorically.
Or, devise your own filing system.

Work on more than one project
at a time.

Boredom slows you down. Working
on one article can get dull. You'll
tap a tune out on the desk, stare
at your computer screen, or train
a pet to sing.

Instead of wasting time, pick
more than one writing idea to
maximize writing time.

Return to the original writing
idea tomorrow, or the next day.
Time away allows thinking about
it, and refreshes you for the
project.

If an idea for an article, for
example, tires you, avail yourself
to writing pages for a novel. Start
a new article, write a poem, do
research on a topic of interest, or
start scribbling down ideas for
greeting cards.

You have a certain amount of
time for writing. Make the most of
writing time by having various
writing projects.

Maximize writing time by turning-off
the cell phone, telephone, television,
and radio.

However, some people work well with
the radio on. It's a matter of what
inspires your creative flow.

Make the most of your writing time
by getting projects completed. It
means actually writing, and ignoring
distractions.

Character's Name: How To Pick It?

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There are other factors to consider
when picking a name for a character.
It's not wise to select a name because
it's pretty.

A character's name should be memorable,
impressive.

Origin, race, is stirred-in when choosing
a character's name. Usually, names
correspond to a character's family.
Or, a character's personality,
appearance, could be the focus when
naming him or her.

A tale revolving around an Irish-
American neighborhood, family, means
the characters will have the Irish
names.

Characters who are African-American
will have African-American names.

An aggressive character, for example,
is called, Fister.

He/she tends to use fists to settle
disagreements.

A character with black hair is named
Raven.

The name given to a character reveals
much about him/her, supposedly.

Also, a character from a certain time
period will reflect it. A character
placed in a 18th century setting
would have a name from that time
period.

Still, names shouldn't be so difficult
to pronounce until readers put your
story aside.

Take time in picking names for your
main characters. They are in more
scenes, and you want people to
remember them, your work.

The main characters have a relationship
with readers. Readers see them as
people. They want to hear their tale,
and see how it's solved. Readers look
at how characters react to their names,
sometimes.

How a character feels about his/her
name gives insight into the character.
He/she likes his/her name? He/she is
at odds with his/her heritage, family?

The same name isn't given to more
than one character in a story. It
causes disorder, confusion.

Similar sounding names are avoided
unless it's written in your plot.

It's a good idea to pick a character's
name and stick with it. Now, other
characters in a story can nickname each
other. One nickname per character.
Us the name, nickname, constantly.

Will your character have a nickname,
just a first name, whole name, or referred
to by his/her last name.

A character's name is picked after
you profile him/her.

If a character's name isn't a good fit,
for one reason or another, change it.

Now, names can be plucked from
television, head-lines, magazines,
books, history, and anywhere your
imagination reaches.

It's interesting to add to a name.
The name Raven becomes Ravina,
for instance. Ryan spins into Ry.

However, in my novel, Grave Street
House, the main character's name
is Amanda. It's an ordinary name,
nothing striking about it. Amanda
is undistinguished.

Yet, she manages the courage
to unravel a murderer. This
wasn't easy for her.

The above steps are guide-lines
to naming your fictional characters.