• #2

Back in the day, when I believed that writing stories could be systematized like a computer program (I’m a programmer by trade, after all), I was obsessed with books on writing. I own two double-row shelves of them, and that’s just the physical ones. You would think such an obsession would translate into sales, but it does not.

A couple of days ago I figured that in my spare time at work, when I’m not editing my current chapter, I could sieve through the hundreds, if not thousands, of notes I took, and post them on my site. I didn’t go as far as writing down to what book each of the notes belongs, or if I rewrote them in any way, so I hope I won’t get in trouble for this.

Anyway, the following notes relate to the process of generating story seeds.

• Freewrite for five intense minutes. Write anything that comes to mind: your impression, visions, dreams, ideas. Ask questions, brainstorm answers.
• Write out, continuously without stopping, one hundred questions. They could be personal questions, questions about the world, about science, about nature, about society, about family members, life, spouse, dog, car engine. Circle the ten that seem to you to be the most important. How do these ten questions relate to a body of work? Are your most important questions reflected in any of your works? Do the questions suggest areas into which you might extend your work?
• Write down a wish list of everything you’d like to see in the screen or in a book. It’s what you are passionately interested in, and what entertains you.
• Is there an interest that you could use as the core idea for an ingenious and appealing original premise? What has always fascinated you? What do your children love? What have you spent most of your non-essential spending on?
• Take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How would you rearrange them into what you do like?
• Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
• Reflect upon your most satisfying and influential reading experiences. Do they have a common takeaway?
• Name three books you were desperately anxious to read. Identify the times you read the back cover copy and thought, “I have got to read that book.” What do these books have in common?
• Each time you get an idea spark, come up with at least five to ten related “what if” scenarios. The last few should be the hardest to come up with but may turn out to be the best.
• Come up with ideas that connect with you emotionally. Nudge them in a direction that offers the greatest possibilities for conflict.
• Write five things you are passionate about. Five things you fear the worst. Five things you’ve always wanted to do. Five interesting things that recently have made you stop and think. Can you apply a “what if” question to each of those five things?
• Think about what things should never be done. Come up with “what if” scenarios for them.
• Come up with a fresh twist for the common scenario involving a group of characters, a confined space, and something chasing after them.
• Think about what you are daydreaming about these days. If it brings you joy, what concept can you extract out of it that would make the story a vicarious experience?