Gathering IdeasGathering Ideas

ReadRead “Stop, Look and Listen” “Stop, Look and Listen” HandoutHandout

Jot down lots of random ideas for stories. • Think of news stories• Think of jokes! They tell a story

(horse walks into a bar, barman says, “Why the long face?”)

• Think of paintings (Girl With a Pearl Earring)

To continue with our ‘situations’ from last week, write down some situations a person can be found in, e.g. from last week: a person slumped over the wheel of a car in a ditch and on the passenger floor is a bag, lots of money, and a gun.

StructureStructure• Stories must have a structure. • Structure means the order in which

you place your events. • Structure shapes the raw material. • It provides a pattern with gives

meaning to the story.The 3-Act structure can help you structure these ideas.

Structure is something you can borrow – using another writer’s story as a template for your own. For instance, can use structures adopted by Tim Winton or Guy de Maupassant, while still developing your own distinctive voice. The structures you borrow will soon become your own. Consider using the structure used in The Necklace.

Things to observe…Things to observe…Ref: The Creative Writing Handbook, p.54Ref: The Creative Writing Handbook, p.54

Observe everything. Look around you, notice what’s happening – the woman running across the road, looking distressed, why? The angry old man sitting on a bench ranting about war, why? Observations can create scenarios, which in turn create stories.

Another idea…Another idea…Sit at a computer, randomly search the internet – book printing, life in the 17th century, diseases. Now how can you weave all that into a story? The plague is happening in London, civil war, famine – people are starving, a printer wants to inform the people, the government are trying to track down who’s printing stuff against them. The printer’s wife falls ill when her husband’s arrested…

What are you really What are you really interested in?interested in?