The Idea Factory: 1,000 Story Ideas and Writing Prompts to Find Your Next Bestseller
By Ryan Lanz
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About this ebook
One idea can create a book. One idea can spark a career.
Do you have a hard time coming up with ideas on what to write?
Countless writers love to write fiction. Exploring a plot and fleshing out characters is part of what makes the project fun. However, few things are worse than staring at a blank screen with no clue what to write next.
These 1,000 prompts are designed to give you the combination of the idea itself, as well as concepts to help you create your own. In the introduction, we discuss the different methods for creating story ideas to continue long after you read the last prompt.
You’ll find multiple genres represented, such as:
• Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Horror, Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Children’s, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Paranormal, Humor, and Historical.
If you need help with inspiration, this is the book for you. Out of 1,000 story ideas and writing prompts, the beginnings of your next book is likely in these pages. Let’s find your next bestseller.
Ryan Lanz
Ryan Lanz was born and raised on the island of Oahu in Hawaii until he was a teenager and then lived in California for a time. He enjoyed a brief experience with film before becoming involved in the performing arts, touring with a music performance group as a vocalist to a dozen countries on three continents over the length of five years. His first published work was Unknown Sender, and he looks forward to many more in a variety of genres. He also enjoys blogging about the culture of writing and brings on guest authors to share their writing tips. For more information, go to www.RyanLanz.com or @theryanlanz on Twitter.
Read more from Ryan Lanz
Unknown Sender: A Horror Short Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadows of Tomorrow: 2 Post-Apocalyptic Short Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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The Idea Factory - Ryan Lanz
Introduction
Let’s contemplate who you are. You’re likely a novelist, flash fiction writer, poet, creative writing enthusiast, published author, or a teacher. And why are you reading this, versus spending your valuable time elsewhere? It could be that you love to write, but you need help creating story ideas. There’s nothing wrong with that; there have been countless writers who have thought the same thing.
All writers experience it differently. Some constantly worry about coming up with ideas. Some never do. And yet others have no problem until they hit a dry spell every year or so. My goal is to either help you learn methods for creating your own ideas or simply give them to you in the form of writing prompts. If you’re the type to keep your story ideas hand-written in notebooks like I do, then let’s fill up some pages.
What’s the value of one idea? Let’s say you purchase this book, read through the entire thing, and only find one solid concept for a novel that fits your style. Think of your favorite author. What if he/she never came up with the story idea that brought you to become a lifelong reader?
It’s possible for one idea to take an author from obscurity to success. Of course, every novel takes a large amount of dedication, but they all start somewhere. I can’t promise you’ll find that idea here, but with one thousand writing prompts, the odds are that you’ll find something to work with. Along with hard work and effort, you could be one idea away from your goal as an author. Let’s begin.
Generating Ideas
Ask any successful author what question they get asked the most and they’ll likely say, How do you come up with your ideas?
We’ve all had days where our mental engines have sputtered. Many beginning writers have the fear they’ll run out of concepts to write about. I did, back when I first started writing.
Some people write quickly, but it’s not unusual to take a year to write and edit a full length novel. In that case, as long as you can think up just one quality idea a year, you’ve got something to work on.
I firmly believe the best way to come up with ideas is to simply live your life. Every writer is exposed to them every day. The thing is, some writers aren’t fully receiving them. I equate it to opportunity. Everyone has opportunities that come their way, but if they don’t recognize them, or embrace them, they’ll whisk by unnoticed.
The trick is to be ready to receive an idea when it comes. And I don’t only mean ready with a pen and notebook. I mean mentally ready to recognize that your random thought is something useable. When you pass by an intriguing billboard, when a friend says something interesting, when one of life’s tidbits strikes you as ironic, or when you overcome an obstacle in your personal life–they all can be converted into the foundation of your next story.
Before we dive into the writing prompts, here are some suggestions on how to encourage ideas to happen on your own.
* * *
News
Every once in a while, I’ll hear a news report, either via television or radio, and find the concept interesting as a story seed. Usually, it’s not the bare concept itself, but I filter it through the genre I’m writing in.
I often strain ideas through the filter of fantasy. Let’s say I hear a news story about someone solo-boating across the Pacific to raise awareness for a cause. I might imagine how the same type of thing would be possible within a world of magical elements–for example, boating through the veil of the underworld.
If you’re a science fiction writer, you might digest the same news report as someone journeying alone across space on an impossible mission, documenting the ill-effects of loneliness. When you hear things happening around you, filter it through the type of writing you like to do.
* * *
History documentaries
I get great story ideas from watching history documentaries. They could be about any subject, really, but history is an Olympic-sized swimming pool of concepts to sift through.
You have wars, political leaders, death, unification, power struggles, relationships, and most importantly, conflict. Many of our favorite books today are inspired by history in ways you may not realize. A popular fiction series warning of an approaching winter, which has been made into a television show recently, is inspired by the Wars of the Roses in 15th century England, where two powerful houses (York and Lancaster) battled for supremacy. In the same series, the famous wall guarding against the ice creatures of the north is inspired by Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, which was once manned by Roman soldiers to keep the northern tribes at bay.
Another interesting way to look at it is to imagine how life would be different if certain historical events didn’t happen. How would Europe be split differently if both World Wars never happened? How much more advanced would western technology be today if the ancient Roman Empire didn’t collapse and the Dark Ages
were avoided? What changes might have happened if Abraham Lincoln or JFK weren’t shot?
* * *
Old newspaper articles
There is a wealth of creative narratives in antique newspapers, mainly because the style of writing was so different back then. Also, what was believed to be possible has changed, so it forces you to think of things in a different light.
If you live in the United States, you’d never think of Hawaii not being a state, but take this article in the Lewiston Daily Sun from February 27th, 1893:
Headline: Hawaiian Annexation. The scheme will probably fail. Emery Neuman says the Queen has not been deposed. Paul Neuman, envoy of Queen Lilioukalani to Washington, today expressed a belief that the treaty for annexation is practically defeated.
Clearly, the view at the time was far different than it is today. In those days, the Hawaiian Islands were ruled under a monarchy and had to adjust to a completely new style of government. Now modify that for your preferred genre, add a different setting, and you have a compelling story.
* * *
Putting two elements together
A simple method for creating story ideas is pairing two elements that normally don’t go together. When I create writing prompts, I often use this strategy. I once wrote a writing prompt about an angel bringing deviled eggs to a potluck. It may seem trite, but it makes for a fun hook for a short story.
A 2012 movie mixed Abraham Lincoln with vampires. It’s difficult to get more opposite than that. Alternatively, look no further than the buddy-cop-opposite or romantic opposites attract
type styles to see how two different entities make for an engaging plot.
* * *
Something familiar with something missing
Imagine something missing from a familiar concept. For example, golfing without a club, lies without consequences, or courtrooms without judges. Removing that one element leads characters into unfamiliar territory, which is excellent story fodder.
Experiencing a character’s adjustment to change is engaging across all forms of entertainment, and a book is certainly no exception. As a writer, I’m sure you’ve heard the advice to start writing a novel where something changes.
* * *
What if?
The what if
factor is my favorite method. The possibilities are endless. Asking what if machines ruled the world and harvested energy from humans inspired many science fiction films.
Think about your daily life. What if something fantastical interrupts your daily routine? It doesn’t have to be science fiction or fantasy based, necessarily. It could be about a social dynamic that hasn’t yet been tried in our world’s history.
You might consider if the concept of lying wasn’t invented, or if humans didn’t discover electricity. You might think about politics and wonder what if one leader benevolently ruled the entire world. Wondering the what ifs
of life can easily turn into great stories.
Writing Prompts
Now that we’ve discussed methods for creating ideas, let’s move on to writing prompts. Often overlooked, prompts are a great way to jumpstart your creativity. When commenting on the subject of writer’s block, many experts recommend to simply start writing…anything. It doesn’t have to be within your normal genre. Even if you’re writing a women’s fiction novel, you can still participate in a writing prompt about an alien invasion. If your bread-and-butter is writing cozy mysteries, you can still pen a short story involving a magic-wielding mage.
Does it sound like a waste of time to write outside your genre, even if just for a few hundred words? Consider this: almost all fiction rotates around a basic set of human elements. A few of them are hope, dealing with the unfamiliar, coping with loss, seeking opportunity or adventure, connecting with the people around you, appreciating things you haven’t before, finding meaning/purpose, and overcoming adversity.
Have you read a romance book where the protagonist deals with an unfamiliar relationship, attempts to connect to that opposite-seeming person, and overcomes the adversity that attempts to keep them from developing a relationship? Or how about a fantasy story where the protagonist ventures into an unfamiliar land, attempts to connect with a troublesome, yet redeeming sidekick, and overcomes the adversity holding him/her back from fulfilling destiny? Compare the two.
With some exceptions, humans often seek a similar set of desires, which are dressed differently depending on the setting, genre, and audience expectations. In some ways, stories across different genres are more similar than they are different. So even if you never plan to publish a word of horror, following a writing prompt with a horror theme can help your writing. Plus, you can always include elements of your favorite genre in any writing prompt. Romantic, magic-based alien invasion mystery, anyone?
I’ve often found that after writing out a few hundred words of a writing prompt, the wheels are greased,
and I’m off to a productive day of writing. It’s my hope that these writing prompts will do the same for you. Use one whenever your creativity needs a boost.
Sometimes I’m asked how writing prompts should be used–the exact length, the boundaries, how many characters, which tense, etc. All those decisions are completely up to you, as these are exercises mainly to get the words flowing. I’ve also numbered the prompts for easy reference. Some of them are structured to include multiple elements in a scene, some of them match up unlikely elements, and some give you an intro line to write from that point. Use them however they help you best. Let’s get you started.
1. Write a scene