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Orson Scott Card on Story Ideas
By Deb Gallardo
Scott Card says what many published authors say, that story ideas are all around us all the time. He doesn’t, however, say how to find them or how to teach yourself how to see them. (That’s why you’re here, right?) Once you have identified a story idea, your job isn’t over, as you know if you’re been reading the pages of this blog for the past year. *grin*
Scott says, “the storyteller has to look at events and scenes with a questioning mind.” Of course the first question is Why? The next is What else? And the most important one is What if? Naturally your questioning isn’t limited to just these. The point is to be curious about everything. Question everything. Why did this happen? What other outcome might have occurred if thus and so had happened? If it had been another person? If it had happened in another time or place?
If we, as writers, don’t ask and answer such questions, we will have no story and therefore nothing to say, the number one reason aspiring authors give up, convinced they can’t write because they have no ideas. They’ve just not learned the knack of asking Why? and seeing where that takes them.
Read “Plotlines and Ideas.” (Scroll down the page to the second question) (opens in new window)
Related Posts
- Story Ideas – Asking Why? and What if?
- Story Ideas – Starting and Finishing
- Story Ideas – Orson Scott Card Interview
- Story Ideas – - Where Do Yours Come From?
- Stories and Our Inner Critic/Editor
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