How To Find Story Ideas And Get Started Writing – Quick #Writing tips for the #Writerslife

Jumpstart your writing! Use these quick writing tips inspire you to move your story forward.

These tips for developing your idea are adapted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers.)

Brainstorm Writing Ideas

• Brainstorm 5 to 10 ideas for stories, articles, or novels. Then consider each idea in turn: 

1. Focus your idea – be specific and narrow, especially with short stories or articles. For fiction, focus on an individual person and situation, not a universal ideal. For nonfiction, go deep on one aspect of the topic instead of trying to cover a broad, general idea.

2. Ask yourself: What am I trying to accomplish?

Who am I trying to reach?

Why am I writing this?

3. Know your audience – study the genre and age range. If you’re writing for publication, study publisher guidelines. 

4. What do you need? Will you have to do research or conduct interviews?

5. What would make the best place to start? For more help, check out my other blogs on finding ideas.)

With these notes, review your list of ideas and choose your top three.

Who Will Read Your Writing?

If you’re writing for publication, identify three possible markets for each. If you can’t find three possible markets, maybe it’s not worth putting time into that idea. However, if you are writing purely for your own pleasure, for your family, or to develop your skills without thought of publication, skip this step – you can write whatever you want!

Get More Writing Advice

You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers is available for the Kindle, in paperback, or in Large Print paperback.

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Learn more or read excerpts at www.chriseboch.com or visit her page on Amazon or Amazon UK. (For other countries click here.)

How To Find Story Ideas – Quick #Writing tips for the #Writerslife

Do you need a bit of inspiration to jumpstart your writing? Sometimes it's overwhelming to read and process a long blog post or article. I hope this series of quick writing tips inspires you to move your story forward!

Maybe you want to write, but you’re not sure what you want to write. Or perhaps you have so many ideas you don’t know where to start. Here are some options for brainstorming ideas. (This is excerpt from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, so it addresses writing stories for children. If you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises with people of a suitable age.)

Find story and article ideas based on the experiences of your children, grandchildren, students, or other young people you know:

·   What interests them?

·   What frightens them?

·   What do they enjoy?

·   What challenges do they face?

·   What do their lives involve – school, sports, family, religion, clubs?

Take lots of notes, even if you’re not sure yet whether you want to pursue an idea. You can put each idea on a separate index card, or fill a notebook, or start a file folder with scraps of paper. Do whatever works for you.

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting.

Learn more or read excerpts at www.chriseboch.com or visit her page on Amazon or Amazon UK. (For other countries click here.)

How To Find Story Ideas – Quick #Writing tips for the #Writerslife

Do you need a bit of inspiration to jump-start your writing? Sometimes it's overwhelming to read and process a long blog post or article. I hope this series of quick writing tips inspires you to move your story forward!

Maybe you want to write, but you’re not sure what you want to write. Or perhaps you have so many ideas you don’t know where to start. Here are some options for brainstorming ideas. (This is excerpted from You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, so it addresses writing stories for children. If you want to write for adults, simply do the exercises ignoring the "as a child" part.)

Take some time to relax and think about each question. Delve deep into your memories. Take lots of notes, even if you’re not sure yet whether you want to pursue an idea. You can put each idea on a separate index card, or fill a notebook, or start a file folder with scraps of paper. Do whatever works for you.

Find story and article ideas based on your childhood experiences, fears, dreams, etc.:

·  What’s the scariest thing that happened to you as a child? The most exciting? The funniest?

·  What’s the most fun you ever had as a child? What were your favorite activities?

·  What was the hardest thing you had to do as a child?

·  What interested you as a child?

·  When you were a child, what did you wish would happen?

Chris Eboch is the author of over 60 books for children, including nonfiction and fiction, early reader through teen. Her novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy; and the Haunted series, about kids who travel with a ghost hunter TV show, which starts with The Ghost on the Stairs. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting. Learn more or read excerpts at www.chriseboch.com or visit her page on Amazon or Amazon UK. (For other countries click here.)

Support #diversity in #KidLit or #fiction with a Book Bingo challenge for #blackauthors

Book Bingo can be a fun way to challenge yourself to read books you would not normally read. This summer, consider doing the Book Bingo challenge entirely with books by Black authors. It's a great way to support the authors (especially if you review or talk about their books), as well as expand your awareness.

Reading is power. Help Black authors and young people see their stories in print by supporting their books. You can also use this as inspiration for a reading challenge for #OwnVoices books of all types.

Please share your favorite suggestions in the comments. Specify whether the book is for adults, or if it's for children, what ages.

Here's the list, in case it's easier to print or adapt it this way:

graphic novel

based on a true story

book that made you cry

book that made you laugh

author's debut novel

nonfiction about history

science fiction 

prizewinner 

historical setting

Set in a  fantasy world

paranormal

biography

historical set before 1800

banned book 

Write in your own reading challenge

reread a favorite

based on a fairytale

historical set in another country

mystery 

Civil Rights era

author’s debut novel

alternative history or time travel

featuring a person with a disability

adventure or survival story

fantasy set in today’s world 

Book Bingo Template courtesy of PTO Today. Make your own here.