Story Sparks

Finding Your Best Story Ideas and Turning Them into Compelling Fiction

Denise Jaden

• Editorial: New World Library
• Año: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781608685103
• Categoría: Langues et linguistique
• Categoría: Écriture créative

Find rock-solid story ideas before you start writing Anyone who has been hamster-wheeling a story idea for years or has hundreds of pages exploring various approaches on their hard drive knows that there must be a better way. There is. Young adult novelist Denise Jaden shows exactly how to create the captivating stories that prevent dispiriting wasted time. Busting the "visitation from the muses" myth, she shows that inspiration is a skill writers can learn by understanding how story ideas work (or don't), fertilizing the ground for fresh and sound ideas, and moving swiftly through stuck points. Practical and inspiring, Jaden's approach celebrates the imaginative sparks that make innovations of all kinds possible while pinpointing the precise tools writers need to fan their unique creative flames.

Part I

S.P.A.R.K.

From a little spark may burst a mighty flame.

— DANTE ALIGHIERI

Great ideas can spark like a fire — once they catch, they can burst fast and furiously into full heat in a matter of seconds. Or, ideas can grow like a garden — slow and consistent, sprouts breaking ground, plants rising and standing on their own, and bringing forth fruit in the proper season with plenty of watering and sunshine. Sometimes ideas can steep like a cup of tea — as you stir them, you can actually see the ideas getting stronger, deeper, and more pungent.

Ideas can even come into our lives like drunks, flailing along on the sides of the road, shouting and confused, and no good to anyone until you help sober them up. Have you ever heard of a “pizza dream” — the idea that having too much junk food and pizza causes the craziest dreams?

The truth is, ideas appear in our lives in all sorts of ways and rarely in the same way twice. This is what makes it tough to find a method of locating and harnessing them. But the more we understand about how ideas are formed and how they expand, the more we will cultivate abundance in our creative lives.

I came up with the acronym S.P.A.R.K. to help capture the anatomy of story idea development. S.P.A.R.K. stands for seek, passion, allies, resonance, and kinetic energy.

1. Seek

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.

— JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

Why does the symbol of a lightbulb indicate a new idea? The word idea is from the Greek word “idiom,” which means “to see.”

Everybody needs ideas. Advertisers, inventors, PTA members, hockey moms, personal trainers, restaurant owners. In this information age, computers can now take care of a great deal of administrative work. Programs and apps can help you develop an outline or synopsis. Grammar software can help you choose wording and assist in sentence construction. What is, and what will always be, in shorter supply is the ability to come up with great story ideas in the first place.

This is easier than you think! A fresh idea is simply thinking of something in a new way or combining two concepts in a unique way. Robert Frost tells us, “If you remember only one thing I’ve said, remember that an idea is a feat of association.”

Idea making is for everyone, not only for the especially ingenious. It’s for the mom making soup with what she has left in the fridge, the contractor making a building more efficient, and the fourth-grade teacher seeking to reach all of her students.

As you probably know, the brain is divided into two hemispheres: The left side is the more cognitive, analytical side, while the right side is the more associative, creative side. This is true, but idea creation is more complicated than that. The superior temporal gyrus resides in both sides of your brain, and that’s where flashes of insight occur. I think we can all agree, flashes of insight, those moments when your brain relaxes and comes up with a solution you’d never thought of before, are absolutely essential to the creative process!

But no matter how active and developed your superior temporal gyrus, ideas won’t always simply come to you. You must become an Idea Seeker and seek them out.

Make a habit of looking for ideas. Don’t wait to brainstorm until you’ve written yourself into a corner. Dr. Linus Pauling tells us, “If you want to have good ideas, you must have many ideas.”

As an Idea Seeker, choose quantity over the quality of ideas. First, it’s often difficult to recognize the quality of an idea when it arises. An idea may look humdrum until it’s fed into the right story at the right time, or until it is combined with another idea to create the perfect solution.

Gathering a plethora of ideas does not necessarily take smarts or even creativity. It simply means diligently keeping your eyes open for new ideas or new connections between ideas. In fact, highly intelligent people often overestimate their smarts, and they value too highly a single idea that they focus on exclusively, while underestimating the power in simply observing.

Idea Seekers always actively search for new inspiration. Then, once they have gathered a sufficient number of ideas, this propels them to create with those ideas. Idea seeking and implementing is a cycle that feeds itself. By developing an almost insatiable appetite for acquiring and using new ideas, you will discover that the act of finding and using ideas continually sparks the creation of even more ideas.

But you don’t become an Idea Seeker overnight. It takes time to discover what, specifically, sparks your creativity, joy, anger, and sorrow. Make notes of what you feel and what causes your reactions.

Seek inside yourself. What are you good at, or what do you think you might be good at? Be a fly on the wall to yourself and explore what piques your interest. What do you already know about, and what do you want to know about? For example, if you’re interested in golf, consider why this interests you. Is it the focus the sport requires, or the particular skill of hitting a tiny ball a long range with accuracy? Or is it the camaraderie of playing with a group, or the sport’s particular humor, pace, history, or debates? Explore those areas and note your reactions.

Explore your interests in places and peoples. If you could go anywhere, where would it be and why? Explore the finer details of these locations. What type of people intrigue you the most and why? What, specifically, do you find interesting or engaging? Study the way people are and the traits that interest you. Imagine what it might feel like to be another person. Interview people with your idea-seeking eyes open. Were people born with the attributes you find most interesting? Or has life shaped them that way?

What do you return to again and again? Is there a type of person or job or pastime you usually gravitate to? If you were going to reread five books, what would they be and why? What places do you enjoy visiting and what do they have in common? Take notice of what’s already there. This is the starting point for finding new ideas.

What types of ideas are you most receptive to? Or, a better question might be, what ideas are you unreceptive to? Some folks arbitrarily reject popular ideas, while others gravitate to them. They feel safest with ideas and people who have already succeeded.

If I suggested that you write a story about a boy and his dog, what would your reaction be? Some ideas come to us and our inner voice shouts, “Yes!” while others barely extract a shoulder shrug. Explore why that is for you. If someone told you that an idea you consider boring would be the next bestseller, would you look at it differently? The value we place on ideas guides the ideas we choose to use in our stories. Rather than dismiss some ideas out of hand, treat all of your ideas as though, with a good shining, they could be gems. The fact that we are not receptive toward certain ideas usually says more about us than the quality of the ideas themselves.

I’m not saying you should embrace ideas that feel wrong. No. I’m only suggesting getting into the habit of considering every idea and, at the very least, filing it away. I’m suggesting breaking the habit of quickly rejecting certain ideas. Perhaps some ideas will never have emotional resonance with you, and that’s okay! But some, given time, and combined with the right elements, could be the key you’re looking for in order to complete a well-rounded plot. They could, eventually, take on a life of their own.

What about those ideas that do resonate with you? Which ideas leave you feeling sympathy or empathy for a person or a situation? Whittle down exactly what moves you. Knowing yourself will help you know your characters and what causes passionate reactions in your stories.

Think of your observational skills as muscles. The more you use them, the more they will develop, and the easier it will be to “lift weights” with barely any effort on your part, perhaps without even noticing.

Have you ever had an accidental idea? Think back to a time when you were trying to come up with a new plot idea for one story, and instead an idea from left field for a totally different story popped into your head. This is the great effect of relaxation helping you brainstorm. The part of your brain that is not über-focused on your first story is taking a walk through an airy park, feeling the wind through its brain tunnels, and this freedom is allowing ideas to rise up. Write them down! You don’t have to take off on a tangent and fully plot out that new story right this second, but don’t lose those ideas! Write down what comes to you easily. And when your brain moves on to something else and another accidental idea pops up about this new story, jot that down, too. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time for that to become your “stress project” later! (And that’s when you’ll likely get fantastic new ideas for yet another story!)

Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes what you think you’re looking for is not really what your story needs. Be open to anything, and allow your brainstorming mind some freedom. Your search may inadvertently lead you to what you really need in your story if you let yourself believe in the possibility. Even if your ideas seem to be going in a weird direction, write everything down and figure it out later.

Don’t only look where everyone else is looking. Once you start looking for ideas without automatically discounting them, you’ll start to find them everywhere.

Don’t be afraid to dream wild and big, and don’t be afraid of incomplete areas that still need to be developed and filled in. Don’t let a lack of ideas stop you from writing. Simply leave blank spots in the story for now. Like a grade-school quiz, you can come back later and finish the tough questions after you’ve filled in the ones you know.

Put It into Practice

1. At your workplace, at school, or at any public place you frequent, have a meaningful conversation with three people you do not already know well. Learn at least three new things about each person, such as their dreams, most exciting experiences, and greatest fears. Ask about emotional reactions to events, secrets, habits, and quirks. Actively learn about people to discover material for fictional characters and plots.

2. Make a Spark List of new ideas that arise during your conversations or while out in public places. Describe the emotions these ideas spark and where the ideas might take you if you followed them through. Ask questions and what-ifs about each scenario.

As an example, I’ve included a sample Spark List of my own for reference:

1. The grocery store clerk’s name tag read “Chelsea” today. I stopped to ponder if she might have a nickname and what her friends would call her. “Chels,” I decided. From there, I considered the smile she seemed to be suppressing. I pictured her meeting up with her friends after work, and wondered, “What’s the coolest thing Chels could do after work today?” Is she single, but crushing on a guy in her friend group? Are they going to the fair, or hiking up a mountain, or trying bungee jumping for the first time? I thought back to the one time I considered bungee jumping, and along with a shot of fear, I felt an immediate respect and admiration for Chels.

2. At the gym, I noticed a scrawny guy who was giving the weights his all. At first, I was a little afraid he might hurt himself, but then my mind wandered to what would motivate him to work so hard in the gym. Does he get teased? Does he have a brother who’s naturally beefy, and whom he’s always been jealous of? Does he aspire to a well-paying job that involves heavy lifting? What would change for him if he put on ten pounds of muscle? Would he be more secure with himself, or would it still not be enough?

3. While on the elliptical machine at the gym, I watched an episode of a culinary competition show. One of the chefs on the show bet all his “show dollars” on himself right at the onset of the show, while another was timid about using any of his “show dollars.” It got me to thinking how different characters, and different people, deal with risk. Are some born being risk takers? Or does it have to do with family upbringing? Was the first chef just that much more confident in his ability? What if they were both taken out of the food realm, where they are experienced — would they bet the same way with real money in the stock market? Why does my heart rate skyrocket as I watch the stakes rise? How heavily would I bet on myself in, say, a writing competition, and would the adrenaline of betting on myself help or hinder my performance?

Now come up...