Beginning a new story or unsure what should happen in the next scene? These solutions will help you find the perfect idea.

Consider this: When making dinner, two details must be considered: what would would taste good and what ingredients are in the kitchen. I know my family, what they like, what ingredients we have, but am often without an idea what to make. Like you, I go to a cookbook, google recipes online, ask someone until voila a menu is born.

Today I’m going to show you how to make a grocery store of story ideas and where to find an array of story ingredients.

• Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day to gleam through the news. Any news. Historical. Contemporary.  Take notes or make a copy (pdf) of the article.

Last week my son sent me an article about a thief, but this was no ordinary thief. A man had led a life of crime (not unique) in the 1800’s (not unique) as an impersonator (rare but not unique) in communist Russia-AND here we have the amazing component and the reason why I save the article. This interested me. It intrigued me. It stirred my imagination and caused me to say–what if…

Perhaps the 1800 part would have stirred your interest. What matters most is saving an article about a unique setting/situation/person that stirred your imagination.

There are many places to find interesting news/articles/information that can be used in stories. Here are a few places to look.

newspapers

museums

advertisements

movies

social media

family stories

weather reports

social issues important to you

global incidents

friends

online meetings/gatherings

• Try to gather ten-twenty ideas a day. Yes, that sounds like a lot. There will be some days nothing strikes you as interesting giving you zero ideas to add to your pile. No problem. The key is to establish a habit of building your idea resource. But to only spend fifteen minutes a day.

• Make a tangible place to gather the ideas. I prefer a recipe box. Each idea written on it’s own index card along with essential information like source, date, etc. An excel sheet would work equally well. Book mark articles for perusing at a later date. Remember, some articles will vanish from the internet over time. Consider making pdf files, including citing information.

• Organize the ideas. Put some in setting, some in character, some in plot.

Here is the benefit:

Say you need to add a minor character to fill a void. Your idea box can not only spark a fresh character (much better than a cookie cutter one), his career, his looks, his manners, and more.

Say you need to add a twist, an incident, an awkward trait, a problem, your idea box can meet this need in a snap! Flip through the articles, notes, photos, etc. and choose! But only choose the piece you need. The date, the incident, the location, a small detail that will engross readers and keep them glued to the pages of your book. Then adapt the detail-change the old man in the article to a teen. Tweak this and add that, creating your own person, place, or thing.

Whether searching for an idea while outlining  a story or when writing chapter seven, your idea box will be there, filled with tailored-made blurbs, facts, descriptions, problems, solutions, that interest you and are therefore easy to morph into your story.

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