What If: A Guide to Story Generation

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Some folk have no problem with story ideas; they’re full to the brim with them. I’m not one of those and, though I’ve lived a while, it seems I often need help from outside sources. There are lots of ways people like me (those without an eternal parade of plots and storylines) can generate story ideas and tap into their creativity, and anything can be a worthy source.

Using pictures is one such method, and I’ve successfully crafted a few published pieces using it.

Imagine a photo of a girl bungee jumping. You can look here (and here’s another) if you want something concrete in front of you. We cannot see the bridge behind her (the prosaic part of our mind knows it MUST be there), her arms are outspread, and she looks both thoroughly elated and more than a little scared. Now, with that image in mind, I want you to work with it via two key question categories:

You ask questions of the picture such as:

These questions unravel, if you’ll forgive the word, potential storylines, get you thinking about the visual. And sometimes what is in the picture is enough to get a story happening. Sometimes. Usually I like to add a little twist.

Here are the beginnings of my exercise with that bungee jumping image:

 

read more at authorspublish.com

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