| How do I get started writing my story? Where | | | | "Shut up. Shut up. Do you hear me!" he yelled as |
| do I get ideas for my creative fiction writing? | | | | he buckled her seatbelt and tried ineffectually to |
| Get ideas from virtually any common, ordinary | | | | wipe her face gently with a tissue. "Don't you |
| situation. Get out of your house to see real | | | | ever do that again! I saw you put candy in your |
| people and the real world and ideas will come | | | | pocket. We don't do that, ever. That's stealing, |
| from the most random places. Be sure to jot | | | | and I will pay for whatever we need. No child of |
| down these ideas so as not to forget them. | | | | mine will ever steal anything, ever." |
| Furthermore, be thinking about what kind of a | | | | Here, we have him buckling her seatbelt and |
| story you want to write so that you can slant | | | | gently wiping her face. Those are not the actions |
| your descriptions in that direction. | | | | of an uncaring father. You have now grabbed the |
| 1. First, simply DESCRIBE A NORMAL SCENE you | | | | reader's attention so he or she wants to know |
| witnessed in a store: | | | | more. Things are too interesting and too confusing |
| The man put the socks down, took the girl by | | | | for the reader to stop now. |
| the hand and walked out. | | | | Use proper grammar in the dialogue to show he is |
| 2. Now, CHANGE the sentence. Make it involve | | | | educated, and use poor grammar to show lack of |
| more of the senses. Play around with how | | | | education, or, perhaps, low intelligence or even |
| different words can completely change the mood | | | | frustration level. How people say things is very |
| of the situation. Use adjectives and adverbs: | | | | revealing about them, their ideas, their moods, |
| The man forcefully threw his purchase at the | | | | etc. |
| Target clerk, grabbed the 5-year-old girl roughly | | | | 5. EXPAND THE DESCRIPTIONS of what's going |
| by the arm and jerked her toward the door. | | | | on AROUND THIS SCENE. Describe what others |
| 3. ADD ANOTHER SENTENCE or three to more | | | | are saying in the store. Use dialogue for their |
| completely describe what happened next, or its | | | | conversation: |
| results. Use adjectives so you more fully portray | | | | The clerk stood still staring at the candy the man |
| the characters. Vary your sentence | | | | had pulled from little Megan's pocket. Jonathan |
| length-sometimes long, sometimes short. CHANGE | | | | was a proud father and always talked about how |
| the event. It's fiction. Be creative: | | | | he could take care of his family. |
| She continued screaming at the top of her lungs | | | | "Did you see that?" the older man said in a |
| all the way out. The hem of the girl's tattered | | | | disapproving tone as he plunked his shampoo and |
| Sunday dress soaked up the bright red blood | | | | potato chips on the counter. "People like that |
| dripping from her broken lip. The man pushed his | | | | shouldn't have kids." |
| long brown hair roughly from his eyes, wiped his | | | | Marie shook her head and commented, "I have |
| calloused hand on his dirt-stained pants, and | | | | never seen him get that angry before. Maybe I |
| dragged her resisting, squirming form into the | | | | should have my manager call the police. But I |
| rusty 1980's Ford. | | | | don't want to get him in trouble. He is usually so |
| 4. ADD SOME DIALOGUE, SOME QUOTES and | | | | kind, and I've seen him a lot over the last two |
| CONFLICT. Add a TWIST so that what the | | | | years, him and his handicapped son. You know, |
| reader first thought is changed a little: | | | | the one who's different. |