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Have you ever thought of writing a story?
Even if you have not gone ahead and written a story yourself, we are sure you might have come across this thought at least once in your life. If you have not written one still, one of the questions you might have faced must be – how to come up with story ideas?
To answer this question, we have come up with simple ways to come up with story ideas.
These simple yet practical ideas will help one build engaging stories.
To understand the subject better, let us start from the basics of storytelling.
What are the 4 P’s of storytelling?
Stories are an essential part of human interaction and hence stories provide us with an opportunity to connect with the audience.
What exactly does the audience connect with in a story?
People: The audience values the people in the story. They look to connect with the characters.
Places: The location and specific information about the location can help the audience engage even more attentively with the story.
Plot: The plot talks about the events that are going to guide the journey of the characters and a well-woven plot ensures the audience is keenly listening or following the journey.
Purpose: The story needs to have a practical purpose that the audience can very well connect to only to help them sustain their attention till the very end of it.
What makes you a good storyteller?
Understanding the reader’s or listener’s psyche is the most important quality that a good story teller possesses. Along with it, he should have a sound understanding of the basic principles of storytelling that we just discussed. A story teller should be able to humanize his characters, make the locations seem approachable, make the plot meaningful and make it purposeful for the audience to be able to connect with the story.
For beginners, it is always recommended that they start with short stories. To grab the attention of the audience, some might even come up with short story ideas with a twist in the tale. Every experienced story writer will advise that you keep writing till you find a rhythm of your own. Be it a novel or a short story, writing is a technique and each genre or subgenre has its own principles.
How to write a short story?
The basics of storytelling always remain the same, what changes is the context and the mindset of the reader. The writer should be able to adapt to these changes. A short story needs to be treated distinctly to the novel.
Since it is short, the writer has very little time to grab the attention of the audience. Short stories have a rhythm of their own and the writer needs to keep up the pace. The character-building process is very critical since in a few words the writer has to build an image for a particular character.
However small a story, having a central character around which the story revolves is very critical. The purpose factor of the story has to be very well articulated to ensure that the audience sticks to the story.
Irrespective of the length of the story, how you begin is very important. Here are 7 ways to begin a story:
1. Start by introducing the central character of the story and why he holds that position in the story.
2. Start with a location or event that has the potential to be popular yet not much has been written about it in the past.
3. Start with absolutely fictional characters or locations that will keep the audience on their toes till the point they start relating to the world you are trying to create through the story.
4. Starting with a twist or mystery is another effective idea.
5. Starting with a fast-paced event to keep the audience engaged from the word go.
6. Start as if the writer is the narrator of the story who will later be part of the story.
7. Begin with an unusual event and the audience will be more engaged.
Having looked into the basics of storytelling, let us get into the heart of the purpose of this article.
5 simple ways to answer the question: How to come up with story ideas
There is no universal strategy for developing good story ideas. But today we are going to discuss 5 simple ways to meet our goal.
All experienced writers would advise to keep writing because writing, like all other forms of art, needs practice to achieve a level of expertise. Practice of writing is a way of training your mind to continuously think of story ideas.
1. Look out for writing prompts – Once you have made up your mind to write, there will be a lot of prompts around that will help spark your imagination. One needs to be mindful of such prompts and be sincere while filtering the prompts to decide what to write about.
2. Watch the surroundings – Watching what is happening around is the most effective way for writers to come up with story ideas. Stories are usually built out from the things the writer has experienced in his life.
Watching people is even more effective while building characters for your stories, since the closer the character is to reality, better is its acceptance by the audience.
3. Be inquisitive – Being curious about things around us can help us find an answer to the question – how to come up with a plot for a story? The people and the things around can be great inspirations.
4. Keep Moving – Mind is a very tricky assistant. At times it can keep coming out with great ideas, while at other times, it can make you feel the struggle. So, it is important that we keep the assistant at bay, turn it off and engage in physical activity to find a new spark for your imagination.
5. Read – Reading is such an important task for any writer. It is not just about learning the art of writing but it is an important source of generating ideas to write.
Conclusion:
If you want to write and write effectively, learn to read people, learn to read your surroundings and most importantly make reading a mission of your life, since these things are going to keep the writer in you alive.
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