The very first part of writing a story is coming up with an idea. For some people, this is easy; ideas never seem to STOP coming. In fact, there are seemingly never-ending plotshops on Wattpad from people who have hundreds of ideas, but not the time or patience to work them out into stories.

For others, though, this isn't an automatic process. If you're like me and ideas don't come naturally, this chapter is for you. Together, we shall search for that little seed which, when you plant it, grows into a blossoming Magnolia tree.

Sorry. That was totally off-topic.

Where can you get story ideas from?

The simple truth: EVERYWHERE. Literally. I once wrote a short story about a judge whose job it was to decide which boy would find true love with which girl. The inspiration for it? An episode of X Factor.

I'll say it again: You can get story ideas from everything. No matter how boring you think your life may be. Now matter how insignificant the event. If you handle it creatively enough, you can turn anything into a story idea.

Let's start with a few examples. First, I'll show you a few basic, everyday events. Then I'll change them into story ideas for you. They won't be great, but they'll show you what I mean.

1. As I'm writing this, I have just come back home from doing the grocery shopping. The girl behind the counter looked incredibly bored.

2. This morning, I brushed my hair as I got ready for the day.

3. What else do we do on a daily basis? We eat and drink. Let's just use that.

There. Three simple, basic, everyday events. Do they give you any ideas yet? Do they make you want to pick up your pen and start writing? Probably not. They are pretty insignificant as events and they are terrible writing prompts. Can you still change them into story ideas? Yes. Yes, you can.

The trick is to ask yourself a few simple questions: Who? What? Why? How? (Just for fun, you can also add Where? And When?). And last but not least, in fact this is probably the most important one: WHAT IF? Ask questions, not about what is happening, but about what could be happening. Try to think outside the box. Don't immediately draw conclusions (the cat that just jumped onto your lap just wants attention), but see if you can think of something more... exciting. Something more interesting. Your cat might have been scared off by something. Do you have monsters in your room?

Now, I'm going to change the previous three examples into story ideas. See if you can do the same. Show us your ideas in the comment section.

1. The girl behind the counter looking bored. My first thought was that she's probably a university student, getting her degree, working in a grocery store (a job well below her intelligence level) to earn some extra money. This was my first thought, because this was exactly my situation five years ago: I was getting my degree and I worked in a shop to earn some money to pay the bills.

However, there are different options. Who is this girl? Maybe she's not a student, but a spy, who does this job undercover. Her being bored would make all the more sense, if her normal job was something as exciting as being a spy. Why is she bored? Maybe she isn't bored at all. Maybe she's actually a genius, spending her time in a mind-numbing job, so she can think better. Which would mean she's solving world-wide problems, like the thinking up a cure for Covid, while her hands almost automatically work the cash register. That means she's not bored, her thoughts are just very far away.

2. This morning I brushed my hair. What if? What if something fell out while I was brushing? A mind-controlling alien bug or microchip. What if the brush broke and I had to go out of the house with my hair up in all directions? How would my day have gone then?

3. And the last one: What if the orange juice I've been sipping while writing this, was somehow filled with something that makes me the most intelligent person in the world? Would I become a superhero or a supervillain? Or something else entirely...

Here's the thing that's really important to remember: What you come up with doesn't have to be believable. That's not what this step is about. Making it believable and convincing comes later. For now, it's all about getting the ideas stirring in your brain.

One thing that can help you get the best ideas, is looking through the creativity of others: books, movies, art, music. All of those things can spark ideas in your brain. That scrolling through Pinterest you've been doing as procrastination? Turn it into time well-spent, by asking those what-if questions.

Ambassador-managed profiles, but many other profiles as well, often host short story contests. They give you a prompt and you need to write a story with that. But those prompts, if they spark something in you, can very well be used to create something bigger. You might not be eligible for that specific contest, but why not write that fun little prompt into a full-length novel?

Another great way of finding ideas is watching and listening to the people around you. Peoplewatching is very a useful activity for writers. If you catch a short bit of dialogue on the bus, or while you're waiting at the dentist's, fantasize about what the context of that could be.

I'm sitting outside writing this, and there's workers building something nearby. I just heard one of them say: "Luke! Coffee!" First thought? They are all going for a coffee break. But WHAT IF? What if that wasn't really Luke's co-worker shouting? What if someone is luring Luke into a trap? What if, when Luke gets to the place where they have coffee, his estranged mother is waiting there for him? Or the love of his life, who broke up with him last week and now regrets it?

Anything can spark a story idea.

One more tip: Sometimes it might help you to write what you know. Personal experiences can be major in coming up with ideas. What's the strangest thing that's ever happened to you? It probably ended just fine, but what if it ended differently?

A last note: You won't use everything that happens to you in a normal day as writing material. You don't need to. Most of it won't turn out interesting anyway. The point is, once you manage to teach yourself to ask questions about anything and everything, to fantasize about the context of everything you see, after a while your brain will start doing this automatically. Once this happens, you'll be able to pick out the ideas that are actually good, those that actually seem to plant a seed of a story in your head. That seed is able to grow into something beautiful.

Naomi - NDeMeer

Team Of Dreams