JKS Makokha began his short story A Minor Mishap with:
On that night, the family of Papa 33 had to sleep in the damp cassava plantation near the stream behind their congested wattle huts. There was no choice. Zero. The issue at hand demanded it. It had to be done.
Use the excerpt above as inspiration to write a story about sacrifice and why that sacrifice has been made.
Writing inspired by cinema history
Click on this link to earlycinema.com, pick a moment from the timeline of developments in cinema history and write a story about a character present at that moment or an activity in some way similar to it.
Writing about motivation fueled by scientific accomplishments
Astronaut Ron Garan has written, in his essay The Importance of Returning to the Moon:
Our children are our best investment for the future, and our space program is a tremendous motivator. Our Nation has seen a steady decline in the number of students studying math and science. The space program can help turn this trend around. I can personally attest to the ability of the space program to encourage students based on the fact that I enrolled in math and science courses and began the pursuit of an engineering degree the day after the first space shuttle mission landed. The creation of a permanent lunar base will inspire millions of young people toward higher education and help maintain our Nation’s technological leadership.
Write a story about a character who becomes motivated by a specific scientific accomplishment and, upon finishing university, gets headhunted for an important position only to discover that there is more to the situation than your character first thought.
Our children are our best investment for the future, and our space program is a tremendous motivator. Our Nation has seen a steady decline in the number of students studying math and science. The space program can help turn this trend around. I can personally attest to the ability of the space program to encourage students based on the fact that I enrolled in math and science courses and began the pursuit of an engineering degree the day after the first space shuttle mission landed. The creation of a permanent lunar base will inspire millions of young people toward higher education and help maintain our Nation’s technological leadership.
Write a story about a character who becomes motivated by a specific scientific accomplishment and, upon finishing university, gets headhunted for an important position only to discover that there is more to the situation than your character first thought.
Writing about your narrator's past
Read the following quote from an article on Horror Movie A Day and use it as inspiration for the beginning of a story told by someone in the present about their past, changing the name of the film or making it something other than a film being reminisced about.
I still remember begging my mom to take me to see Nightmare on Elm St 4: The Dream Master in theaters, but it was not to be - not only was it too nice out (I asked while we were in Maine at a summer campground/resort - I think sitting on the beach or by the lake would be far more preferable than driving 30 miles to the nearest theater for a movie called Nightmare on Elm St 4: The Dream Master), but at that point she was not taking me to R rated films. She’d rent them though, and thus like all good moms, rented the film for me when it hit VHS six months later (you see kids, back in my day, we’d have to WAIT to see a movie on video if we missed it in theaters, whereas nowadays anything over 3 months after its theatrical release is considered “too long").
I still remember begging my mom to take me to see Nightmare on Elm St 4: The Dream Master in theaters, but it was not to be - not only was it too nice out (I asked while we were in Maine at a summer campground/resort - I think sitting on the beach or by the lake would be far more preferable than driving 30 miles to the nearest theater for a movie called Nightmare on Elm St 4: The Dream Master), but at that point she was not taking me to R rated films. She’d rent them though, and thus like all good moms, rented the film for me when it hit VHS six months later (you see kids, back in my day, we’d have to WAIT to see a movie on video if we missed it in theaters, whereas nowadays anything over 3 months after its theatrical release is considered “too long").
Using Cinema and Fiction blogsearch results as inspiration
Go to the Cinema and Fiction Links page, type a word into the searchbox on the right and use one of the results as inspiration to write a story.
Search for whatever word you like. Some suggestions are elation, sorrow and motivated.
Search for whatever word you like. Some suggestions are elation, sorrow and motivated.
Writing to probe moral dilemmas
Mean Creek, set in a small US town near a river, has been described on the DVD blurb as "a chilling story that probes the moral dilemmas teens face in the pressure cooker of 21st century society."
Write a story which fits that description, set at a specific time and place.
Write a story which fits that description, set at a specific time and place.
Writing about possible worlds
Marie-Laure Ryan has written, about her article From Parallel Universes to Possible Worlds : Ontological Pluralism in Physics, Narratology and Narrative:
This essay explores how theoretical physics, narratology and narrative itself deal with the idea that reality consists of a plurality of worlds. In physics, the existence of parallel universes has been postulated on the cosmic level to describe what lies on the other side of black holes, and on the level of subatomic particles to avoid the paradoxes of quantum mechanics. In narratology, the philosophical idea of a plurality of possible worlds and the contrast between the actual and the possible provides a model of the cognitive pattern into which readers organize information in order to interpret it as a story. But the many-worlds interpretation of physics and the possible worlds (PW) model of narrative differ in their conception of the ontological status of the multiple worlds: in physics they are all actual, while narrative theory stresses the contrast between actuality and mere possibility.
Write a story using multiple 'possible worlds' to contrast different character choices or different versions of events told by characters.
This essay explores how theoretical physics, narratology and narrative itself deal with the idea that reality consists of a plurality of worlds. In physics, the existence of parallel universes has been postulated on the cosmic level to describe what lies on the other side of black holes, and on the level of subatomic particles to avoid the paradoxes of quantum mechanics. In narratology, the philosophical idea of a plurality of possible worlds and the contrast between the actual and the possible provides a model of the cognitive pattern into which readers organize information in order to interpret it as a story. But the many-worlds interpretation of physics and the possible worlds (PW) model of narrative differ in their conception of the ontological status of the multiple worlds: in physics they are all actual, while narrative theory stresses the contrast between actuality and mere possibility.
Write a story using multiple 'possible worlds' to contrast different character choices or different versions of events told by characters.
Writing about psychological development
Virginia Axline, in her child therapy book Dibs in Search of Self, began the introduction with:
This is the story of the emergence of a strong, healthy personality in a previously deeply disturbed child.
Write a story which fits that description.
This is the story of the emergence of a strong, healthy personality in a previously deeply disturbed child.
Write a story which fits that description.
Writing about misunderstanding
Christopher Collins, in Poetry of the Mind's Eye: Literature and the Psychology of Imagination, wrote about a distinction between images a person can physically see and images in the mind such as a mental image developed while reading. He emphasised the need to separate and clarify such multiple meanings of words if they are to be used with precision, rather than be confounded by major ambiguity and miscommunications.
Write a story in which such lack of clarity leads to a misunderstanding that causes a problem between two characters.
Write a story in which such lack of clarity leads to a misunderstanding that causes a problem between two characters.
Writing about reality
Bruno Latour, in Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies, has written:
There is no natural situation on earth in which someone could be asked this strangest of all questions: "Do you believe in reality?" To ask such a question one has to become so distant from reality that the fear of losing it entirely becomes plausible...
Write a story about a character who believes in reality and a character that doesn't, and how one character becomes convinced that the other is right.
There is no natural situation on earth in which someone could be asked this strangest of all questions: "Do you believe in reality?" To ask such a question one has to become so distant from reality that the fear of losing it entirely becomes plausible...
Write a story about a character who believes in reality and a character that doesn't, and how one character becomes convinced that the other is right.
Writing about being useful
Alethea Lewis began her novel Things by Their Right Names with:
Philosophers have said, and poets have sung, that every individual of the human race is distinguished by a leading passion peculiar to himself. Now, I have not been so neglected by Nature, as to be left without this appropriate mark of humanity. I too, like the rest of my species, have my ruling passion; and this passion is, the desire to be useful.
Of the means to attain this end, money, talents, and leisure, are the most powerful. Of talents I must not boast, of money I have not any, of leisure I have a great deal. It is my leisure, then, that I must dedicate to my fellow creatures.
Write a story about a character who desires to be useful and has an idea on how they will go about fulfilling that desire.
Philosophers have said, and poets have sung, that every individual of the human race is distinguished by a leading passion peculiar to himself. Now, I have not been so neglected by Nature, as to be left without this appropriate mark of humanity. I too, like the rest of my species, have my ruling passion; and this passion is, the desire to be useful.
Of the means to attain this end, money, talents, and leisure, are the most powerful. Of talents I must not boast, of money I have not any, of leisure I have a great deal. It is my leisure, then, that I must dedicate to my fellow creatures.
Write a story about a character who desires to be useful and has an idea on how they will go about fulfilling that desire.
Starting a story amidst a crisis
Nkem Ivara began the short story Double Trouble on naijastories.com with:
"Koko, are you listening to me?" asked Atim as she realized that her cousin had not responded to anything she had said to her in the last few minutes. Looking up she noticed the faraway look in Koko's eyes and panicked "Koko, is it the baby? Are you in pain?" she questioned as she grabbed her cousin's hand and shook it. "Say something, anything. Oh! Abasi mbok"* she cried in Efik as she threw up her hands towards the sky.
Write a story that begins amidst a moment of crisis.
"Koko, are you listening to me?" asked Atim as she realized that her cousin had not responded to anything she had said to her in the last few minutes. Looking up she noticed the faraway look in Koko's eyes and panicked "Koko, is it the baby? Are you in pain?" she questioned as she grabbed her cousin's hand and shook it. "Say something, anything. Oh! Abasi mbok"* she cried in Efik as she threw up her hands towards the sky.
Write a story that begins amidst a moment of crisis.
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