Friday, March 10, 2006

Story Starters Flickr Group

This place has THOUSANDS of photographic images to inspire your writing. Pick one or a whole bunch and start writing! Find different pictures and connect them with your story. Find a photograph that's just begging to have its story told.

Here's a sample group of images. Can you write a story or screenplay scene that ties all three elements together?






VISIT THE WEBSITE.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

A Bit of Fun - "The Story Starter"

The Story Starter
provides ideas for 98,889,336 different story starters.

This is kind of a fun distraction using drop-down boxes and javascript to generate a "story starting sentence."

VISIT THE WEBSITE.
Found another one! This one seems to be a bit more serious in nature and designed to really get you writing...

Story Starters for the aspiring Fantasist!

A quick little writing exercise taken from The 29 Most Common Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) by Judy Delton. It's a creativity exercise meant to help you get writing when writer's block has set in. Based on the title and first sentence, start a story.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

What if...

...your arms and legs were removeable?

...we run out of landfill space for our trash?

...you had a third eye? Where would it be and what use would it have?

...you could grant one animal species the ability to talk? Which one would you pick and why? What kind of conversations would you have?

...you discover hard evidence that your employer is breaking the law? What crime are they committing? What would you do about it?

...you can prove how an election was rigged? What kind of election? What's your evidence? What if you COULD change the results but the guy who would then be the winner is much worse for the job? Would you still make an honest election?

...you had to pick which of your five senses you had to lose? You must pick one. Which one would you do without? How would you cope without it?

...you could have one superpower? Which one would you pick? Why?

...you could undo a past mistake? Which one? How would you undo it? What would happen from that point on?

...you could expose someone you know as a phoney? To whom would you expose that person and what would you get out of it?

...your favorite color was outlawed?

...you had to pick the songs for your favorite singer's next CD from songs that already exist. Which songs would you pick?

...you could rewrite all or any part of any movie? What would you change?

...you could sit down to dinner with any four persons, past or present, living or dead? Who would you pick and how would the conversation go?

...you could redistribute the world's wealth? How would you do that and what countries would you most affect?

...you could completely and forever eradicate ONE disease? Which one? Why?

Inspiration from a Picture

A few questions to get you going...

Who lives on top of that mountain?

If no human being has ever set foot on the summit of that mountain before you (or your character), how does that make you (or your character) feel? Describe the emotions. Why? What's behind them? What struggle, sacrifice, pain, conflict had to be overcome or endured to get to that summit?

Is that foggy mist or forest fire smoke in the picture? What does that signify in terms of story (what your character has done or is about to do)? Is it a positive or negative (more conflict/problems to overcome)?

If you (or your character) meets up with one of the creatures of the forest, is it a friendly meeting or one of danger? For who? You or the creature? Why? What happens? If it is a friendly meeting, what sort of "relationship" forms between human and animal?

What other humans might also be in this scene that would pose grave danger to your character? Why? How?

Any discoveries made? What kind? What impact do they have on your character and story?

Why will your character never forget this place?