Ideas for writing from observing relationships at your school or college

Published on December 4, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .
Writing through the ages has been aplace of high emotion presenting many great writing opportunities.

Schools and colleges through the ages has been places of high emotion presenting many great writing opportunities.

School or college are fantastic places to get ideas for writing because they are places of high emotion where all sorts of people meet and interact and, above all, good story writing is about people. Places, although often full of atmosphere, are just the context in which people react to each other.

A big advantage of setting your stories in a school or college is the ready readership who share an interest in this immensely rich community of people.

Whether your relationship with your school or college is as a student or as an adult, through teaching, administration or being a Governor, spending some time passing your writers eye over the huge story writing opportunities will probably be time well spent.

Each of the people in your school or college have their own dreams and ambitions, loves and challenges and the interaction between all these people form a web of relationships that are often exploited by many television soaps and other writers for writing ideas.

However, just observing the people and stories around you is not enough to produce a great writing idea. It is vital that your creative mind is applied to all the situations, smells, people and places you come across to weave your own personal story.

And the most powerful tool in a writer’s armoury is to ask ‘what if?’

What if so and so formed a relationship with so and so? How would their group of friends respond? What if that person became the most popular person in the school or college? What if they became the most unpopular? What if they became the most successful or the greatest failure? What if teachers became students and students became teachers? What if aliens were running the school or college and programming the minds of the students to help the aliens take over the world? What if one of the students ran amok shooting everybody in sight? What if there was an epidemic and the school or college was sealed off to prevent the epidemic infecting people outside the school or college?

Emotions run high in schools and colleges. There is fear of failure in exams. Fear of getting dumped by one’s boyfriend or girlfriend. Even teachers can sometimes fear a difficult class or the next teaching inspection. All these are areas of feelings that your readers may want to explore and which therefore could produce a good idea for writing.

My short story about bullying ‘Classmate from Hell‘, has received a steady stream of readers ever since it was written and put online. In this story, painful childhood memories persuade the otherwise successful female character to meet her childhood bully again.

Whatever your standpoint, observing and reflecting on your memories or current experiences of life in your school or college are very likely to provide you with a great spring of ideas for writing your next short story or novel.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Story writing for a creative writer is like surfing the waves and going with the flow

Published on December 3, 2008 in Writing, sci-fi and science fiction writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .
Story writing short story fiction ideas can come and distract you at any timeand sometimes it's best to give in and go with the flow.

Short story writing ideas can emerge from your creative unconscious to distract you at any time and sometimes it's best to go with the flow!

Story writing is an amazingly addictive, compulsive activity. If it harmed people, it would  probably be banned. Once a short story pops into my head, it yells to be let out. It makes more noise than my kids used to when they were sitting in the back of the old Hopcott banger in years gone by.

So it was with a stiff writing schedule ahead of me, last Friday, that a new short story emerged from my unconscious and started to pester.

This short story idea first appeared while I was taking a shower and continued running through my mind like a lumbering dinosaur as I walked downstairs and sat in the kitchen to eat my morning muesli.

It wouldn’t go away and, by the time I’d switched my computer on, I knew there was no chance of me writing articles as I’d planned that morning.

The story had to be written and nothing else would give me relief – well, certainly not anything on offer on a Friday a.m. in Winter at the Hopcott household.

Three and a half hours later it was lunchtime. The first draft of the short story had been completed and typed into my short stories blog in preparation for publication.

At this point, I still had no idea about a title for the short story. Furthermore, the short story was definitely not really the sort of thing I would normally write. It seemed a bit like sci-fi short story but it also had characteristics of stream of consciousness writing with accents of the sort of thought processes that might occur during aging.

Furthermore, I’d been writing the short story so furiously that I’d even missed my morning cup of tea so was thirsty and starving.

I saved the draft short story and stopped for lunch.

After eating, since it was Friday, I popped into my local town and visited a friendly bookshop where the owner puts up with me boring her occasionally with my conversation and unwitty repartee. It’s a once a week event and gives me the opportunity of catching up on any gossip in the local town. (I call it writer’s research but it’s really just gossip!) Her small discount bookshop is very central. If it’s going on locally, my shop-keeping friend will know all the gruesome details – and be prepared to tell them!

So back home to re-write the stream of conciousness science fiction story and finalise any editing needed. I’d made a good start until my brother rang to tell me his doctor had found a lump where lumps shouldn’t be and recommended I go to my doctor to check my similar parts just in case I also had a lump where a lump shouldn’t be.

The call lasted over two hours, after which it was too late for me to do any potential lump finding, so I made an appointment for the doctor to call me on the Monday morning and went off to play some tennis down at my local club.

So it was Saturday before my latest new short story was published online for all to read. It is called Time but not as we know it and can be found on my short stories blog. I hope you enjoy it.

All of which I write here to mention how compulsive and addictive short story writing can be and how disruptive to a writer’s planned working day.

However, in mitigation, I have to confess that by that Friday, I was really tired and not looking forward to my writing plan. Perhaps it was for the best.

As it turned out, writing that short story was fun. It cheered me up, made me feel better at the end of a long weeks work writing and was very therapeutic.

On reflection, it made me feel fortunate that I am a writer again, which can’t be bad, and, if I too have lumps where lumps shouldn’t be and the worst happens, perhaps it will be something more for others to remember me by  :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author

Ideas for writing powered by knowing your creative self, recreation and personal reflection

Published on December 2, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .
Ideas for writing arise less frequently from playing an active sport such as tennis and more frequently from reflective activities such as walking.

My ideas for writing arise less frequently from playing an active sport like tennis and more frequently from reflective activities such as walking.

Strangely, I rarely get ideas for writing when I’m playing tennis, one of my favourite sports.

On the other hand, whilst out walking alone, I often find myself mulling over things I have written earlier in the day or things I am planning to write and am often rewarded by new writing ideas.

I have to confess that after a stressful day writing at great speed and dealing with many writing projects one after the other, sometimes I prefer to switch my mind off and not think about new ideas for writing.

Everybody needs a break sometimes. Writing is my professional activity and job. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I need a break – even from an activity I love.

Playing tennis gives me this break. While I am playing tennis, my mind is completely on the match. It takes my whole concentration. The culmination of serving, running into the net and dealing with the many varied shots by the opposition seems to be enough to keep my brain occupied. Of course, I play tennis with other people and there is generally a nonstop sociable conversation with them too to keep my mind off work.

On the other hand, walking alone allows me to contemplate whatever comes into my mind and to think over the work that I have been doing during the day. It is an activity very much like listening to music and very conducive to thinking up new ideas for writing.

If I go walking with a friend, our conversation might either prevent or stimulate creative thought. If my walking companion, like myself likes knocking about a creative idea, we might develop an exciting and interesting conversation that will afterwards leave me with many ideas for writing to develop later.

Without doubt, everybody is different. Perhaps the moral of the story is to monitor the way you react to different situations in your life. If you have a creative burst, try to identify the situation that has made your creative juices flow. When you next need to turn on your creativity, reconstruct the events that last made it happen and led to your idea for writing.

Knowing and understanding your creative self and the activities that best stimulate your personal creativity can open the sluice-gates to producing a steady stream of your own original creative ideas for writing.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing from reading nonfiction, altered points of view and the human face of factual information

Published on December 1, 2008 in Writing and writing ideas. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .
Creative writers see a bridge as the sum of all the people involved in its building, their achievements and tragedies.

Creative writers see a bridge as the sum of all the people involved in its building, their achievements and tragedies.

Previously, I described how reading fiction can be a very good way to generate ideas for writing but, perhaps more surprisingly, reading nonfiction often provides me with a good idea for writing too.

Interestingly, the writing ideas generated by reading nonfiction are frequently unrelated to nonfiction topics. Reading non-fiction, for me, often generates great ideas for fictional stories too.

An article about NASA and space exploration could generate an idea for writing a science fiction story involving intelligent insect life that had been lying dormant on Mars for many thousands of years.

A book about digging an underground railroad tunnel through a mountain range might spark off ideas for a political thriller involving high value public contracts and corruption.

An article in a newspaper can be of enormous value. Perhaps there’s been a bank robbery or statistics are given about how the credit crunch has increased the number of home repossessions. The pain and anguish caused to many from losing their homes during the recent World financial crises is an area that is soon bound to be exploited by writers worldwide.

Even reading a book that is now inaccurate and out of date such as an old physics or chemistry book could spark off the idea for a story. Just holding the book and imagining all the people who have held that book before could set me thinking of ideas for writing about their lives, their loves and the world that they lived in.

However, reading nonfiction actively is vital to make the ideas for writing flow most productively. This involves thinking around the topic covered and giving it a human face. From the point of view of history, a bridge was built, perhaps bigger than ever before, but from the point of view of the designer who conceived it and the engineers who built the bridge it was an enterprise involving personal success, fulfillment or tragedy and it is in the human stories around the bridge-building that the ideas for writing are found.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing, reading for writing and the golden two hours writers rule

Published on November 30, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Reading books often generates ideas for writing fiction stories.

Reading books often generates ideas for writing fiction stories.

Strangely, when I watch a film, I rarely have ideas for writing but when I read a fiction short story or novel, ideas seem to flow fast and furious, even as I read.

Perhaps it is because, when we read fiction stories and novels, our minds are working very hard to imagine the places, characters and events about which we are reading. The way our minds work seems to be very fuzzy. It is almost as if the characters and stories in the fiction book set off ripples in our imaginations which expand uncontrollably. Tap these ripples and you have your new idea for writing.

But, as you read the story, pause every now and then and make a note. If you were writing the book, what line would you follow with the plot? Who would be the goody? Who had be the baddy? What other characters would you like to see in the book? How do you feel about the characters? Are they the sort of characters you would like to write about?

What types of books do you like to read? Do you like romances? Do you like thrillers? Do you like historical novels? Do like reading short stories or flash fictions? How about science fiction (sci-fi) or fantasy? If you like to read stories like these, you may also like to write them.

Of course, I am not suggesting that you should plagiarise stories you read in other people’s books but merely that you should use them as a starting point for generating ideas of your own.

It is often said that, when we read somebody else’s story, we are complicit in the writing of the story because so many things relating to the story are filled in by our own experiences. It is, of course, one of the strongest qualities of a good writer that they are able to allude to many people’s personal experiences in a way that avoids describing them in detail yet which still builds a picture.

A golden rule has been suggested to me that two hours reading time a day is necessary for a writer to keep the creative juices flowing. Certainly, it seems to me that in two hours reading, a lot of lateral ideas for writing could be generated.

If you are interested in ideas for writing you might also be interested in reading my article ‘Ideas for writing while listening to music‘.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing while in public places, some recommended but others not, unless you are in the SAS.

Published on November 29, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Not all public places are ideal for ideas for writing

Not all public places are ideal to research ideas for writing!

Getting ideas for writing while in public places is easy – unless, of course, you are taking time out in accommodation provided by your Government following an unfortunate experience in a criminal court.

Public spaces are accessible. As soon as you walk outside your house, you are in a public place and there are people everywhere. Each of them have their own personal stories and, as we wander, we are free to speculate about them? Why have they worn those clothes? Where are they going?  What are they thinking about?

Moving on down the high street. Who owns the shops? Are they successful? Bearing in mind the credit crunch, the shops you pass might be on the verge of bankruptcy. How do their owners feel each day when they open their shop shutters perhaps knowing today they will probably make another loss? What are their hopes and dreams? What are their nightmares?  Your next story writing idea could be right in front of you.

Wander nonchalantly into a cafe and buy a cup of coffee or tea – the more crowded the cafe the better. Bury your head in a book or magazine as you pretend to sip your drink – but the real purpose for being in the cafe is not to read.

Instead, tune into the conversations around you. Saviour the smells, listen to the sounds of the coffee making machine. Examine how you feel in the cafe? Do you feel threatened or do you feel warm, cosy and welcome?

Listen for titbits of conversation on the tables around you. Construct what you hear into stories. Like any eavesdropper, you will probably misunderstand what they are saying but that doesn’t matter. Sleuth-like, enter up your writer’s notebook as each idea for writing about characters and plot in your next short story or flash fiction occurs to you.

Now stop! This next suggestion for finding ideas for writing does not apply to vulnerable persons and I absolutely take no responsibility for any harm that comes to anybody, vulnerable or otherwise, from pursuing the following course of action.

It is something I do from time to time but I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody else. (Frankly, there’s no point is suing me anyway, I’ve got no money!)

In fact, unless you always go out well-protected by personal tasers, pepper sprays, vicious German sheep dogs or personal bodyguards with big muscles in their arms and halitosis , you shouldn’t even read on.

Er, is there anyone there? Oh, there you are! … What? … You are in the SAS? … OK, I will continue…

Leave the cafe and find a comfortable bench to sit on in your high street or public gardens – ensuring that there are people passing and that your location is safe, even if you are in the SAS.

Soon, with a bit of luck, somebody will come and sit next to you. Strike up a conversation. Let them tell you about their lives, dreams, their experiences and thoughts. Soon you will have lots of ideas for writing quite simply handed to you on a plate. (Er, no that doesn’t mean you can accept sweeties either, Mr SAS!)

I do this quite often and even have a blog called Adventures on a Bench which records conversations and thoughts I’ve had while sitting on benches and talking to strangers at various locations in the UK.

So there you have my suggestion about ideas for writing for today. It’s easy. Simply loiter in public places and cafes – trying, of course, not to get arrested.

Public places are a wonderful generator of ideas for writing because they are the place that so many stories intersect. Everybody you meet has a story even if it is only the story of their life.

Each person you see or meet in public is a complex amalgam of work experiences, romance and family life. Many have dreams and aspirations they dare not tell their friends but may tell you or another stranger on a bench. (Unless you are a member of the SAS, of course, you will have to imagine these stories.)

Can there be a better source for your next idea for writing – as long as you do it safely in your imagination?

Whatever your approach for getting ideas for writing in public places, I wish you good  fortune and lots of happy and safe creative writing.

If you would like to read more about ways to find new ideas for writing, you may like to read my recent article about writing ideas and family skeletons.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing listening to classical music – a personal viewpoint from Rob Hopcott

Published on November 28, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Watching evening performances of classical music symphonies on television stimulates ideas for writing.

Watching evening performances of classical music symphonies on television stimulates ideas for writing.

Many of my best ideas for writing fiction, articles, short stories, flash fictions, novels and novellas come to me while I am listening to music in the evenings.

When I have finished my day’s writing at about five or six o’clock, after I have eaten my evening meal, I like to listen to classical music.

As I listen to the music, my mind drifts over the things I have done during the day. Ideas and thoughts are mixed together and mulled over and, often, I find myself making notes about these new ideas for writing in my ideas notebook.

In comparison, if I watch a film, whether it is a thriller or a romance, it seems to take my attention to a much greater degree. It rarely stimulates me to  creative thought about new ideas, concepts and plans.

Of course, you may be different. Watching a symphony performed on television might be completely alien to what you like to do. Perhaps, for you, a thrilling film allows your mind to wander in the same way music does for me.

However, I suspect there is something about music that puts us into a more contemplative mood than watching or listening to a story. I am not saying that I don’t like watching films but merely that they don’t put me into a creative frame of mind and help me generate ideas for writing or anything else.

Strangely, watching a factual film does allow my mind to wander. Watching a documentary is also useful because it provides new fuel for my thoughts. It feeds my mind with new situations, new possibilities and new facts. When I watch a documentary about building the longest bridge across the widest river, I’m thinking about the lives of the people that achieved this amazing project. What tensions did they suffer? What were their hopes and fears? Did some of them fail? Were any of them fired? How did their work experience in building the bridge affect their family lives?

So, for me, listening to music and watching television documentaries is a great way to let my mind wander and help generate ideas for writing. Perhaps it might work for you.

If listening to music or watching a documentary doesn’t help, here is another idea for writing inspiration.

Try to remember those moments in your life when you did have a great idea for writing? What were you doing at the time? Could you put yourself back in that situation so that it might inspire you again?

Reading about what inspires other people is useful but what is most important is what inspires you.

If you would like to read more about writing ideas, you may like to check out my other article Ideas for writing – ambitions, dreams and the power of ‘What if?’

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing – home life family skeletons and exciting soap story opportunities

Published on November 27, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Your home life in a small country village or a large town can stimulate great ideas for writing

Your home life in a small country village or a large town can stimulate great ideas for writing

Finding ideas for writing in your home life might seem unlikely to you. After all, for most of us, our home lives are fairly safe, secure and comfortable. Writing about your home life might, therefore, initially appear boring, uninteresting and uninspiring.

However, relationships are the cornerstones for huge bodies of fiction writing – not least the ever popular television soaps – and the strong relationships in  your home life, perhaps even skeletons suitably disguised and rearranged, can provide excellent ideas for writing and story telling material.

Our home lives shape the people we are. We all have home lives and our desire to look into the lives of others means your home life could provide you with an idea for writing a story that could run and run.

Talking to older members of your family can be a good place to start and might produce surprisingly interesting stories. Were your parents or grandparents in any war? Did your mother have previous relationships before your father? Was your father quite a ‘Jack the Lad’ before he found your mother? How did people go out and find relationships ‘in the old days’? How do you feel about all the stories you have been told?  Mould and alter the experiences so they can’t be traced back and your story might unfold surprisingly quickly.

Has your family got a very strong friendship with another family? How do these families interact with each other? Are there rivalries or jealousies?  What if …?

Imagine your ideal family. Would it be large or small, wealthy or poor, high achieving or living the simple life?

If your interest is science fiction (sci-fi), how would it feel to be part of an alien family living on another planet or in another universe? What would happen if your alien family met human beings? Would the families be friends or enemies?

Of course, the objective is not merely to copy the stories that people in your family can tell but instead to use them as the foundation for a writing idea that you imagine and create yourself. The secret is to use your researches into your family relationships as a starting point for your writing ideas and as a catalyst to stimulate your imagination.

Your home life with all its complex relationships and personal histories is a great place to research and find ideas for writing.

If you would like to read more about ideas for writing you may be interested in my article about using strong feelings to supercharge your writing ideas.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing from strong feelings such as anger, depression, sadness, love and romance

Published on November 26, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
Roses are an abiding symbol of love and romance

Roses are an abiding symbol of love and romance

Yesterday, I discussed getting ideas for writing from positive feelings such as ambitions, dreams and aspirations using the power of ‘What if?’.

Today, it is time to turn to feelings and emotions such as anger, depression, bereavement, love and romance as an alternative source of writing ideas.

Feelings are an extremely fertile area to find ideas for writing. Feelings are frequently strong and important to us. Feelings come in all shapes and sizes. To use feelings as sources of ideas for writing creative fiction, think about these feelings. Imagine you are experiencing them again. What is it about these feelings that makes them so important? Described them. Tell the story.

Have you ever felt really angry about something? Did you feel angry because you were badly treated at work? What about relationships that have fallen by the wayside, did they leave you feeling angry? Could you imagine being angry enough to do something extreme – at least in your imagination – such as murdering someone?  In fiction, many characters have had that feeling and been the subject of many short stories, online novels and novellas as a result.

How about love and romance? Do you long for love and romance? Have you experienced love and romance? How did it feel? How did you meet your lover? Where did you spend your time together? Was there adventure and mystery in your relationship? How did your lover feel about you? Love and romance can often be the source of a great writing idea for stories and are immensely popular among online fiction writers and in the traditional printing press.

Have you ever suffered bereavement? I still remember the strong feelings I experienced when my mother died. At some stage in our lives we all have to go through bereavement and so when you write about bereavement you are writing about a very strongly shared feeling. One of the best ways to find readers is to focus on a shared emotion or a shared pain that you can help others resolve through your writing.  Perhaps bereavement could provide you with an excellent idea for writing your short story, flash fiction or novel which also has the virtue of perhaps helping others as well as being entertaining.

Depression is surprisingly common among human beings. Have you ever felt depressed, incapable of solving problems and perhaps even lacking energy for life? Write about your depression. How did it start? Where do you think it came from? Was there a trigger that started your depression? Did you find a way of alleviating your depression? Since depression is a common feeling, many may wish to read your story about depression. If you are still suffering from depression, writing about your depression may even help you work through the feelings as well as providing an interesting story for others to read.

Good writing is a rounded experience. It uses emotions, feelings, sense of smell, sight, touch and a host of other impressions to bring a subject alive.

Whatever the feelings are that you write about, I hope thinking about feelings provides you with some great ideas for writing your next short story, postcard fiction, sudden fiction or even a novel or novella :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Ideas for writing – try Ambitions, Dreams and the power of ‘What if?’ by Rob Hopcott

Published on November 25, 2008 in Writing and ideas for writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Somebody once asked me if I could suggest some ideas for writing to get them started on a short story, novel or novella. I answered it was best to look inside themselves to find writing ideas based on their experiences not mine. They were doubtful whether they had a ’story in them’ but, when I suggested they start with their ambitions and dreams, their ideas for writing soon flowed.

Your dreams and ambitions are wonderfully fertile places to get story writing ideas. They hold your deepest interest, they excite you and are fundamental to your personality. Your ambitions and dreams come from your innermost being and so are genuine and real. Since you will almost always write better on subjects about which you deeply care, writing about your dreams and ambitions can help you write with true conviction and feeling.

Naturally, your ambitions and dreams are only a starting point from which to let your mind wander. Using the phrase ‘what if?’ to perm every option is the next step towards revealing mouth-watering story-lines – and may even give you real-life ideas to change your plans.

Are you looking forward to having a family and being part of a long-term relationship with children at some time in the future? Imagine what it would be like. What tensions might you feel? Why is having a family important to you? How would you feel if you couldn’t? What circumstances might cause this state of affairs? The ideas for writing are boundless.

Alternatively, have you an ambition to change your career? Perhaps there is a job you would like but can hardly imagine ever getting, even in your wildest dreams. Imagine how it would be to make this ultimate career change and reap the rewards your new job may bring. Imagine what could go wrong and explore the dramatic tension.  Soon the ideas for writing will flow.

Do you dream about love and romance? These are very popular ideas for writing. What would your ideal partner be like? Can you visualise the great love in your life? How would you feel if you found your ideal love and then lost them?

Perhaps you would like to go to college or university later in your life or perhaps return to college or university as a mature student, if you are older. Life change is great for a story idea. Why do you find the idea exciting? How would you feel once you were there? What problems could arise and what conflicts and situations might you encounter?

Think about the place where you work. Could you see yourself rising through the ranks to become in charge of your organisation? What stresses would it bring? How would others feel about you? Would the huge amounts of money you might earn change your life and make you a different person?

To find ideas for writing, try changing your viewpoint. If you are a young person, imagine you are an older person. Look back on your life and think about the stages you have gone through. If you are an older person, then think about how it would be like to be a younger person. Perhaps even consider how younger people might think about you. Changing your point of view can stimulate ideas and thoughts you may never previously have entertained.

Ideas for writing stories are everywhere but need to be approached with a questioning eye and a willingness to ask ‘what if?’ constantly.

‘What if?’ creates ideas for writing and enhances commonplace situations into playgrounds of the mind. It stimulates your story writing ideas and goes a long way towards keeping your readers on the edge of their seats and coming back for more.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author