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How to Beat Writer’s Block – Story Idea Generators
By Deb Gallardo
Callihoo is Fantasy and Science Fiction author Julia H. West’s website for her own writer’s group. One of my favorite parts of this site is the section for “Dare to Be Bad,” a challenge to quickly write three stories in six days. The idea is to give yourself permission to NOT edit while you’re writing. Let it be “bad” until it’s time to revise. Then you can pretty it up.
Part of her strategy for writing so quickly during the DTBB challenges is to 
come up with story ideas quickly. There’s no spare time in six days to agonize over your plot. That was the inspiration behind her story idea generators. Yes, some of the selections are heavy into the sff genre, but hey. We’re writers. We can rewrite anything to make it our own.
- Oblique Strategies
- The 37 Dramatic Situations
- Cosmic Thoughts
- Random Science Fiction Story Ideas
- Curses
- Paragraphs
She also has generators specific to sff writers, which she says constitute a work-in-progress:
- SF Characters
- SF Items
- SF Descriptors
- SF Places
- SF Events
- SF Jobs/Occupations
- Fantasy Jobs/Occupations
- Contemporary Jobs/Occupations
- Random Emotions
- Emotions List
- Intensity of Feelings
Check them all out at CALLIHOO’s Dare to Be Bad page. Be sure to scroll all the way to bottom.
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At Hatch’s Plot Bank, one of the few remaining angelfire sites I’ve seen in a long while, you’ll find more than 2,000 one-line story ideas. And with most of these, given only a little thought, you could brainstorm each one into three or more ideas. Substitute different genders, slight variations to the scenario, etc., and you could more than double the list.
If you can’t find at least one story gem in this listing, then I’d like to check your pulse. All kidding aside, you don’t need to use any of Hatch’s ideas word-for-word. After all, these are one person’s ideas. I encourage you to change a word here and there, add a quirky character, modify the situation — do any of these things and more, and you’ve just added to the 2.382-and-counting plot nuggets. Most important, what you come up with is uniquely your own.
Go to Hatch’s Plots for this extensive listing.
Tips:
- Skim Hatch’s Plots (or keep clicking on the generator buttons at Callihoo), until something jumps out at you. In the case of the listing, no need to read word-for-word. You’ll know when you’ve found something with potential. Your eyes will go right to it.
- Grab at least three ideas while you’re at it, and put them in a safe place. Whether it’s a text file, a Word document or a manila folder in your files, record the idea while it’s fresh. Don’t trust to memory!
Related Posts
- Psychology of Writing – Procrastination & Perfectionism
- Too Many Story Ideas – Coping with TMIS
- Story Idea Generators for Fun or Inspiration
- Author Interview: Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan Authorial Heir
- Creative Writing Ideas – Pay Attention! Part One
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