writers look here?

Question

hey! so im a novice writer, hoping to go to college to become a novelist, or a simple writer. I've written several stories but my computer has crashed a few times and i've lost them. Being discouraged it's hard for me to come up with ideas to write about. Any tips on how to get a good story rolling? oh and also how to name characters? I'm posting this in Theatre because i love to write scripts and playwrites

Answer 1

It's a skill. Let me give you an example:

An amateur looks at cars going down the street and just sees 'a bunch of cars'. Maybe they can pick out a Hummer, because everyone knows what those look like, or maybe that car that looks like the one they used to own. A car expert, on the other hand, can probably not only tell you the make and model, but also the year of manufacture and if the car is operating properly or needs repairs.

So too it is with story ideas. If you write or read enough stories with the eye of a critic, you begin to see what the important elements are, what makes them tick, and what is superfluous. And, armed with that information, it becomes easier to be given a radom element (something happening around you) and say, 'this would fit into a story in THIS way...'.

One author became practiced at this by using the dictionary. He would open it, point to a random word, and write with whatever he pointed to as a major element. I sometimes recommend that people find an existing story they like, strip it down to a concept, and write a DIFFERENT story based on the same idea.

All in all, I'd say you're looking at the problem backwards. You don't look for good ideas to write stories around - learn to write well, and you can write a good story around ANYTHING.

Answer 2

I like to sit in a public place and use little snippets of conversation that I hear in my writing. When you are naming characters you can just use a newspaper or something and name your characters after people in the stories (obviously not nameing everybody George Bush or Saddam Hussein) I like to mane my characters after people in paintings. As for ideas, you can take a pretty basic storyline- coming of age, love story, quest, etc and set it somewhere unexpected with an unconventional character in the lead.
By the way, those little USB memory sticks are great for backing up your work and are super portable.

Answer 3

If you have to fish for ideas then you are NO writer! One does not go to college hoping to become a novelist and there is no such thing as a "simple writer." You don't write "playwrights," as you stated. A playright is someone who writes plays! I really don't think you are up to the task of being a serious writer and college cannot teach you creativity. No one can. Choose another line of endeavor.

Answer 4

Tips for playwriting....well, I like to act and I think that if YOU can take on and see the character in every demension, the character is set. A boy in my school has won many awards for his plays and when he gets up on stage to help us out - he does every character PERFECTLY. We learn from him and that is what makes his work so great. His vision is always alive in the words and the blocking.
As for naming characters - similies and words in other languages that you can use that describe the personality of the character. Like Daisy, she's sweet, she's simple and pretty. And then there's Roxy, she's firey and hot and quite the oppostie of Daisy.
Irony in names for comedies. Like the opposite of the personaltiy.
Hope it helped.
:) Adelaide

Answer 5

You post a question on here. Later, after you have received one or two lame answers, you get a private message sent to your email address.
The message is from someone who is also trying to write a novel. He/She doesnt live too far from you.
After building up an 'on-line' relationship, you decide to meet up..........take it from there.....make it a love story, a horror story, a thriller....whatever. .......a good name for any novel is John.....can't go wrong with John.

Answer 6

Look around, watch people imagine what they could be, travel, expirience it's all around and honestly drink, yes this way you don't get like this blank page in your head ;) If it comes to names go forward maybe some foreign names?