In a new blog post, Janice Hardy suggests a fun way to brainstorm your next story idea. “I think for most of us, ideas are pretty easy,” she says. “What’s hard, is turning that idea into a workable conflict with a plot that will become a strong novel.”
Her advice: go through your favorite books and movies and steal what you love about them. No, not plagiarism. Get your mind out of the gutter.
For example, Hardy loves the movie Mama, a horror suspense film with no clear-cut villain. While Hardy wasn’t interested in writing a ghost story, she did want to play with the idea of a conflict where right and wrong weren’t clear. “Take a concept or technique of a story you love or were impressed by, and use it in your own way,” she explains. “It’s much easier to come up with an original plot using this concept. Any type of story could fall into this structure, and all you have to do is find a good conflict that works on multiple levels.”
This can also help you generate your pitch line or story sentence. “Condensing a story idea to one line helps you identify what that story is about,” Hardy says. For example, when stripped of its details, the pitch line of the film Aliens can be: The sole survivor of a disaster must face and overcome her fear to protect those she cares about.
Within those parameters, you can write any kind of story, and few people would notice that your premise mirrored the film’s. You can probably write a half dozen ideas quickly, simply by swapping genres. “It’s just a matter of finding the story details that work within that conceptual framework and character arc,” Hardy says. “Once you have something to guide you, it’s much easier to direct your brainstorming along those lines.”
Of course, you should avoid merely writing your version of a favorite story. Take the basis as an inspiration and leave the details on the cutting room floor. “As the adage says, there are only seven plots in the world, so we’re all ‘stealing’ inspiration from each other to tell our own stories,” Hardy says. “Don’t be afraid to build off another idea, as long as you’re respectful to the original creator and take that idea in a new direction.”
