Ideas for Fiction begins by saying that the best source of fiction is the "zone in which knowledge and the lack of knowledge meet, where you wonder" (4). Sometimes stories spring more from imagination, sometimes more from experience, but usually from some of both.
Experience is the first topic. The advantage to writing from experience is that you know vividly the details of what you want to depict, but it doesn't have to be your experience; you can imagine the experience of someone else and get a productive scene. Look around you and use your imagination (4).
Imagination is the second topic. Some writer work well from imagination, one sentence leading right into another, but most people need to start from experience as well (6).
Passion is the next topic. Live your character emotions. Be passionate about them (7).
It's not enough to have an idea for a story, you have to have concrete details and situation to flesh it out. Keep a journal to write down experience you have and things you see to create these details (8).
Use other writers for inspiration, you can even do variations on similar themes (9).
Dr. Novakovich uses lots of examples that I am not really doing justice to. This is really just a very rough outline, and I suggest if you are interested, the book is really cheap used on Amazon. Next time the exercises!
Best,
Trev
Novakovich, Josip. Writing Fiction Step by Step. Cincinnati: Routledge, 1998. Print.
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