Fleshing Out Your Story Idea

Posted on October 23, 2016     4 Comments

You have an idea. A story must have structure to function. It is unlikely to pop into your head neatly structured, and even if it does, it is almost certain to be full of plot holes. Heck, it might not even be as fully formed as that. It might just be a single character, setting or theme you want to explore. Even historical events lack the kind of structure they need in order to make them work as stories, since real life is replete with random events, unresolved problems, and has no beginning and end (unless, of course, you’re writing a character’s entire life-story, but even then… you need structure to make it feel like it’s going somewhere). If you’re like me, you might find you need to polish an idea a thousand times over before it can truly function as a story.

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3 Ways to Ignite the Imagination

Posted on October 16, 2016     2 Comments

Now, as we all know, turning on a car’s ignition doesn’t immediately take you where you want to go. It simply starts the engine, allowing for the possibility of motion. In the same way, igniting the imagination (to continue the metaphor) does not immediately give you a fully formed story. It just gives you the idea, allowing for the possibility of a story. Perhaps I’ll talk about turning your idea into a story next week, but this week, I want to focus on that all important first stage: going from having nothing to having something.
There are many different things you can do to spark the imagination, none of which involve sitting down and waiting for inspiration to strike. You can…

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