Most people wonder about how writers get ideas for stories, poems and articles. I am reminded of a writer who said, “Every person walks across hundreds of story ideas everyday but even great writers see only five to six of them.” One thread that runs through all my short stories is that somehow they are, in some way, related to the life of my friends, relatives, acquaintances or myself. This is true even in the case of horror and science-fiction stories. Though the ghost might not have been actually encountered, I wonder what would happen if I throw in a ghost in this scene and a new story is born.  One way in which I get story ideas is to go to a library or book store and glance at the titles of books. Don’t pick up the book, read the blurb or even glance at the category to which it belongs. Choose a title that interests you and think about a story that can possibly have that title. Viola!-You have your own story ready. For instance, Robert’s ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ book is pretty famous. The title gives me an idea for a story of the lives of two men-X and Y. While X is rich and busy, Y is poor and only holds a seasonal job. Both have ten-year old sons. While X gives all to his son but not his time, Y has nothing to give his son but his love and time. You can build up from here and you have a beautiful story before you. It’s that easy to get story ideas!  Why don’t you try?   

Tags: story ideas, writing fiction

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under writing fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.