What Lies Underneath
There's a quote in "Story" by Robert McKee, which says "If the scene's about what the scene's about, you're in trouble". That was in the context of film scripts, but it's interesting to use in novel scenes too. This exercise is all about subtext.
Pick an ordinary scene. Here's a few suggestions:
Two sisters go shopping for a housewarming present.
An IT person fixes an office worker's computer.
A man's brother and his girlfriend get together to plan his surprise birthday party.
Now pick an emotional undercurrent. What's really going on? Is one of the sisters so depressed she's considering suicide? Has the IT person got a big crush on the office worker? Do the brother and the girlfriend actually hate each other?
Write the scene, conveying the subtext to the reader through dialogue and action only. Depending on the intensity of your scene, the subtext might simmer underneath or finally burst through to become the actual subject of conversation.
For an example, see Gaie's story "A Housewarming Gift".
Easter Egg Hunt
Somebody leaves your main character a trail of clues to follow. They could be messages, images or things. Where do they lead? And what's at the end? Chocolate eggs or severed heads?
What's in a Name?
Spam is annoying, but you can make it work for you for a change. Check your spam emails for the sender's name. Some of them are wonderfully exotic or unlikely. What sort of character do they conjure up for you? If spam doesn't work for you, you could try plant name. The Latin names may work best. For example, Bellis Perennis is the common daisy. Once you've got the inspiration for your character, you can always go back and change the name later.
Picture Seeds
Pick one or more of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes - a scene, an outline, whatever comes to mind.
Three Things
Choose a group of three items from the list below or make up your own. Use as a starting point for a scene or a story. Write for 15 minutes.
- a rose, a mouse, a glove
- a shoe, a letter, an infernal machine
- a cup of peppermint tea, a dead horse, a belt buckle
- an oak tree, an argument, a bowl of mutton stew
- a message, a red ribbon, a rocket
Starting Situations
The day after my wedding my husband/wife told me...
The day after I signed the contract my new boss told me...
The day after we bought the house, the neighbour told us...
The day after my grandmother's funeral, my mother told me...
The day after I started the new medication, the doctor told me...
Dreams and Nightmares
How does a dream situation go horribly wrong? Does it end in disaster or do your characters find a way to fix it or escape? Some suggestions:
- Your character wins his/her dream car.
- Your character meets his/her dream partner.
- Your character inherits his/her dream house.
- Your character is finally successful in his/her ambition (promotion at work/artistic recognition/climbs Everest etc.).
- Your character goes on his/her dream holiday.
Picture Seeds
Use one or more of the pictures below as a starting point for a story or a scene.
Recycle
Borrow the basic plot of one of Shakespeare’s plays (he borrowed a lot of his, so don’t feel guilty about it). I.e. King Lear is at its most basic the story of an ageing and powerful father pettishly testing his children’s loyalty and suffering as a result. Now put that story in a contemporary, futuristic or fantastic setting.
Go Green
Or any other colour you like. Pick a colour, and then write 3 words or short phrases that you associate with that colour. E.g. Orange: fire, fruit, 70's decor. You could stop here or keep going for two minutes, writing associations for your associations. E.g fire: heat, shoot, sack. Don't censor - write down whatever pops into your head. Pick three words at random from your list and use them as a story or scene starting point.
Get Positive Energy
Think of something that disgusts you or that you really hate. Write about it as though you love it and find it beautiful. Write for 10 minutes.
Picture Seeds
Use any or all of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes - a scene, a story outline, whatever comes to you.
What’s the Big Idea?
If you’re thinking of kick-starting your writing with the New Year, why not think big? Or perhaps you’ve set a goal to start and/or finish a novel this year. This exercise can help you get going.
Step 1: Think about some of the ideas and problems that intrigue you. Write a list, summarising each idea in a sentence or two. If you’re stuck for ideas ask yourself what inspires you? What do you like to read about or watch documentaries on? What are you passionate about? What makes you angry and why and how does this relate to the wider world?
For example:
Survival in a harsh environment, the decisions that have to be made (problem)
What do you do when your past catches up with you? (problem)
Glass and ceramic craftsmanship (inspiration)
Strong and interesting female characters (inspiration)
People who shove into queues (anger) could lead you to consider countries or leaders who act like bullies, or the importance (or not) of rules in society.
Don’t be too analytical about the list, jot down anything that pops into your head.
Step 2: Pick a couple that feel interesting. How might these become stories? This doesn’t have to be anything like a detailed outline; just an idea, a main theme, and maybe some details that make it your own story, unique to you.
Step 3: Choose one that seems promising (you can do this with as many as you want, eventually) and write a paragraph. What’s your story about? This doesn’t have to be a plot, just a theme.
Step 4: Now expand on that. Add descriptions of plot and character that would give a browser in a bookshop an idea about whether it’s their sort of novel. If you’ve already thought of a title, great; if not, come up with something to call it – you can always change it. And keep in mind this applies to whatever you write down at this stage – anything that doesn’t work can be changed..
Step 5: Now you've got a good basic direction for a novel. If you're happy with what you've come up with, go ahead and try the whole thing. If it isn't something you really want to work on, set it aside and try again, or edit it further. Chances are, many of the details will change as you write the novel, but the central idea will probably stay much the same (though you may find even that changes by the end). Gaie is currently half-way through the novel summarized in #3 and #4, and the plot has expanded twice -- the second time by about ten chapters worth of material -- but the Big Idea is still pretty much the same
If you’re stuck, you could combine your ideas and problems with picture prompts. We’ve posted a big set this month, and there are picture seeds in all of the previous months’ exercises. Try this website in Montage mode for pictures from blogs or start your own collection. Ask friends and family to send you interesting and unusual images.
Picture Seeds
Pick one or more of the pictures below and use as a starting point for a story. Write for 15 minutes.
It's nearly that time of year again. Time to celebrate with friends and family. Or, for some of us, time to hare about in a screaming panic, eyeing teetering piles of merchandise with increasing despair. Remember, it's all material. The exercises below are written in that spirit. And we hope you get round to the celebrating part of the holiday.
Pass it On
Why not try your hand at a daisy chain story? These are written as a series of small scenes and/or character stories with a linking element. Point of view shifts, where you jump into the head of each character and hear their thoughts, are positively encouraged in this type of story.
You could use an unwanted present as your linking element. Is it taken straight down to the charity shop, or wrapped up and passed on to someone else? Where does it go after that?
Or you could write a story about the presents that a family or set of friends give each other. The challenge is to say something about the character of the giver and the receiver in the choice of gift.
Gaie has written a chain story using a ten pound note. You can also use a gesture (a smile, a kiss), or show the knock-on effect of random encounters.
If you really want to give yourself a hard time, you can close the loop and get your final scene to link back to your first.
Christmas Gifts
Have a look at the suggested titles below, and use them as a starting point. They might be inspired by Christmas, but they don't have to lead to sparkly, twinkly stories. When you think about it, "Silent Night" could be quite sinister. Or maybe it's just us.
Twelve Days
Silent Night
The Gift
Homecoming
Fairy Lights
Feasting
Crowd Control
Bring a group of characters together for a celebration, and then prevent them leaving. Snow them in, break the airlock, becalm the ship. You can make the situation anywhere on the scale from inconvenient to life-threatening. Who takes action and who hits the bottle? Who says things that they can't take back? Who makes things worse?
Picture Seeds
Use one or more of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes.
Blasting the Block
Feeling blocked?
We thought we'd do something different this month, and look at the problem of writer's block. Many of us suffer from the evil blockage at one time or another. Sometimes before we even start, sometimes when we’re in the middle of something.
There are writers who claim never to have suffered from it. We don’t like them. You could try writing a story about one of them, the smug so-and-so, and invent some horrible fate that befalls them as a result of never suffering from writer’s block…
Alternatively you could try one of the exercises below (probably better for your karma).
Talk to Imaginary People
This one assumes you already have a hero and/or villain – or at least a character. What do they think about your story? Do they like it there? How do they feel about whether you carry on with it, or not; whether you finish it, or even start it, or not? What do they think if you go watch "I’m a Celebrity Why Should You Care" instead? Let them tell you in their own words.
Take Baby Steps
Set yourself a tiny goal. Really tiny. 100 words a day, for a week. A good legal typist can do that in under two minutes. They don’t have to be good words, they just have to be there. Add them to your work in progress or start something new. If you like, you can start something new every day – so long as you also finish it. Unfinished projects are inclined to make you feel bad about yourself, which is often a major component of writers’ block.
Change the Scenery
Take your laptop, notebook and pen or whatever, and go somewhere you’ve never written before; somewhere you wouldn’t normally consider a writing space. Go to the café at a museum or art gallery – or sit on one of the gallery benches. At least when you’re stuck you’ll have something interesting to look at. Go to the pub and write. Take a long bus journey. If you live somewhere with a tube – subway for you Americans – sit on it till the end of the line and write. (Note: depending on where you live, flashing a nice laptop on public transport may be unwise.) (Further note: if you do this on the Circle line, you might be there forever. Remember to get off at some point).
If you’re stuck at home, just try a different room, chair, sitting position, or writing implement. We've found writing in bed first thing in the morning (with the appropriate caffeine beverage) to be productive.
Why Me? Why This?
Take another look at your story. Why this story? Do you love it, or do you just think this is the one you should be writing? Too many of us believe that anything worth doing has to be hard, tough, and miserable. Yet the writing that’s fun to do is the writing that’s fun to read – and we don’t just mean comedy. Remember the things that first made you want to write. What makes you go, ooh, yeah, cool? Whether it’s 15th century funerary ritual, 21st century car racing, the idea of everlasting love or lots of muscly people swinging swords, if it makes you feel excited, that’s what you should be writing about.
Take a Break
Finally, there are things in life that are more important than writing. (Housework is not one of them.) Sometimes things happen that take up all of your time/concentration/energy. If something huge is happening in your life, you may need time off to deal with it.
And sometimes you just need time to "refill the well". If you've been holed away writing for months on end, you might just have run out of stuff to write about.
If you are sitting down to write regularly, and you absolutely, positively can not write (and it's making you feel awful), try giving yourself a week off from writing, no guilt attached. The no guilt attached is the crucial bit. Think of it as a material-gathering exercise. Spend your writing time doing something else that you enjoy, or learn something new and fun, or do some web surfing or random research, or catch up with friends and family. Enjoy yourself! Picture Seeds
Use one or more of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes.
Strange Brew
Read, heard or seen anything odd lately? A snippet of overheard conversation, a half-seen advert, a really strange fact, or unfamiliar saying? Use one, two or three odd things in combination in a story. Here's some random weirdness we've collected:
"...stir-fried and served to the audience..."
"...the asockalypse..."
Icelandic ponies have a fifth gait called the "tolt".
The Earth travels through space faster in June than December (thank you, New Scientist).
Play with Your Toys
Do you have a favourite toy, or an unfavourite? Seen a really cute or a really creepy doll in a shop window? Imagine what it'd be like as a person. Does he or she have any special or secret talents? Write about your new character.
If you need a story situation to get started, you could write about a theft. Is your toy the victim, the thief, or a detective?
Out of the Blue
October is a good time for ghost stories. Here's a collection of various reports of a "Blue Man".
Blue Man
Full Moon Blue Man
Blue Man Again
Blue Uniform Man
Imagine they are all reports of the same thing. Who or what is he? Demon, ghost, alien? Create your own legend, ghost story, or consipiracy theory.
Picture Seeds
Use any or all of the pictures below as a starting point. Write for 15 minutes. Want an example? Have a look at this Friday Flash.
The Rule Of Three
A writing friend has a theory that it takes 3 ideas to make a story, and we believe this works.
Rummage through your old files and notebooks for story fragments, scenes and ideas that didn't go anywhere. Pick three that still interest you and combine them into a new, whole story. (For example, you could take the setting from one, a character from another, and a situation from the third.)
You may need to think about the ideas from different angles to get them to fit together. Stick with it for 20 minutes - the subconscious is very clever at finding links and patterns.
Dynamic Duos
Try out this tongue-in-cheek internet toy for generating crime-fighting partnerships. Keep clicking until you find elements that appeal to you. Take as much or as little as you want of the character descriptions. Write for 20 minutes: a scene, some dialogue, or a plot outline.
Odd Man Out
Take one of the characters from your current work and write them an unconnected scene or short story. It may be helpful to do this for one of the characters you like/understand/know the least.
Picture Seeds
Use any or all of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes.
The plot medics are away on holiday for the first two weeks of August. While we're gone, we thought we'd give you some exercises that are fun to do with friends.
Desperate Scavenger Hunt
Set up:
Get each person in the group to select 3 items from around the house, and put them in a bag. Nominate one person to be caller, and another as picker. As the picker selects an item in the bag (so the caller can't see), the caller says who the item will be given to. Make sure that everybody in the group receives one item.
Writing Exercise:
Who desperately needs the item you've been given, and why? Write for 20 minutes.
Genre Bending
Set Up
Each person writes the names of 3 story genres on separate pieces of paper, folds them and puts them in a hat/bowl/receptacle of your choice. Examples include high fantasy, hard sf, Regency romance, amateur sleuth, bonk buster etc.
Writing Exercise
Pick two pieces of paper/genres and write for 20 minutes combining the two in a scene or a plot outline.
Stylish Plots
Set Up
Ask each of your friends to bring a selection of books written in a distinctive style/voice. Sit in a circle, and each select a book for the person on your left.
Now get each person to write 2 plot situations on separate pieces of paper, fold them, and put them in a bowl. Examples include "a birthday party goes wrong", "jewellery is stolen", "a body is found" etc. Pass the bowl round, and each take one piece of paper.
Writing Exercise
Allow 20-30 minutes for each participant to read a section of their book, and get a feel for the author's style. Then take 20 minutes to write a scene for the selected plot situation in that author's style. Picture Seeds
Use one or more of the pictures below as a starting point and write for 15 minutes
Walk For Inspiration
Go for a walk and make a note (possibly just a mental one) of things in odd places, for example unusual items discarded on the pavement. Use the items in a story or write one explaining how they all got there.
Be Artful
Visit an art gallery (or an online gallery if you can't get to one) and look at any pictures showing a group of people. Don't read the descriptions, make up your own story about who they are and what's happening. (Magazine adverts can also be used for this exercise.)
Change the Scenery
Find a new place to write. Cafes and other public places are particularly good when you're feeling isolated and/or sulky. This can help you past a tough spot in an ongoing piece, or use your surroundings to inspire you to write a new one.
Picture Seeds
Use any or all of the pictures below for a starting point and write for fifteen minutes.
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