Denise Jaden - Story Sparks: Finding Your Best Story Ideas and Turning Them Into Compelling Fiction

Also by Denise Jaden

FICTION

Avalanche

A Christmas Kerril

Foreign Exchange

Losing Faith

Never Enough

BOOKS FOR WRITERS

Fast Fiction

Writing with a Heavy Heart

Copyright 2017 by Denise Jaden

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

First printing, August 2017

ISBN 978-1-60868-509-7

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-510-3

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

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To all the writers who have ever wondered whether their ideas are good enough

Contents

One of the most common questions Im asked when I speak to groups of writers is Where do you get your story ideas? No matter which of my books we are talking about, I always have a story behind the story. Not only that, but I can usually remember the spark that nestled itself into my heart and burned strong and bright enough to carry me through hundreds of pages of writing.

I know that sounds easy, and I can already sense what youre probably thinking: It must be nice to have awesome fully formed ideas right from the onset and then simply sit down to transcribe them. No, thats not how it works, at least not for me. At the beginning, the nature of the spark is often obscure. However, by the end, and after much revision and digging to find the heart of that story, I can look back and see an illuminated spark at the center of it, like, Oh, right, thats what drove me!

This book is broken into five parts. establishing story-forming habits. And the appendixes constitute the books fifth part. These are idea factories or cheat sheets you can turn to whenever youre stuck.

Speaking of being stuck, why do some writers seem to have endless character, story, and plotting ideas while others struggle? Is this a talent some writers are born with? If youve ever felt discouraged by this unbalance in the creative world, not to worry. Idea gathering is a highly learnable skill!

Ideas do not usually come to us already fully formed. In fact, some of my best story ideas first arrived as niggling and annoying insect-like thoughts that I originally suspected had little substance and were only there to distract me. Dont be afraid of tiny ideas or half-formed ideas. Have faith. If ideas are meant to create stories, given time and focus they will grow and complete themselves. When youre writing and you dont have all the answers, learn to leave plenty of blank spaces and keep moving. Create forward momentum for yourself and your stories. Even while writing this book, I left plenty of blank spaces along the way and came back to flesh them out later.

One of the main goals of this book is to ensure that a lack of ideas doesnt stop you up in your writing. Later, I discuss writers block, which is not usually a lack of ideas. Its a lack of what you consider worthy ideas, and the solution is frequently to keep moving forward using any and all ideas, even bad ideas, so that youre not stuck staring at a blank page. In my previous book about writing, Fast Fiction, my solution for perfectionism is to write forward, write lots, write badly, and basically just keep writing. Its the same with ideas: just keep finding, developing, merging, and combining ideas until your story is moving.

Allowing your ideas to spark and grow takes planning and forming good habits. It means understanding that ideas matter. Creativity is the structure of our existence. Maybe the general population doesnt notice how much ideas matter, but talk to teachers, inventors, managers, advertisers, business owners, authors.They all rely on and cultivate precious and important new ideas every single day. What do cars and airplanes and buildings and toothpaste and fashion and the internet and cell phones and Moby Dick all have in common? They were all sparked by ideas. Our society and human existence, everything we do and use, reflects our creativity.

This books aim is to equip you with skills and methods to uncover your best ideas and grow them to fruition. To kick-start this process, Id like to ask you a few questions:

What kind of writer are you? Fast? Slow? A thorough outliner? A write-by-the-seat-of-your-pantser? How have you come up with your story ideas so far? Does this method change for each story you write?

What kinds of stories do you want to tell? Genre fiction or contemporary realism? What kinds of stories do you like to read? What kinds of stories excite you most? What are the best endings youve ever read? The best beginnings? What stirs you up? What bores you to tears?

Before turning the page, spend a few minutes thinking about your answers to these questions. No matter what your answers, youre not wrong! Everyones brainstorming process is different, and creative people often brainstorm differently from project to project. How do you typically brainstorm story ideas? Does a particular kind of story beckon you to write it? Do you gravitate toward simple linear stories or complex, multi-timeline, multipoint-of-view kaleidoscopes? Your answers to these questions can help guide your brainstorming, as this book takes you on a personal journey to spark the stories only you can tell.

Go ahead, turn the page. Strike the match.

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.