Ideas for Short Story Writing

IDEAS FOR SHORT STORY WRITING

The following are some ideas to get you started...you’ll need to develop a plot and some thematic content for each:

CREATING CHARACTER 1) Imagine a character of your own who is ambitious. What is motivating them? What do they want to succeed at? Now think about a possible scenario that could challenge your character’s main ambition: What could be standing in their way? Are their own insecurities / doubts holding them back? Is someone else affecting their ambition? Are circumstances out-with their control affecting them?

2) Think about something that means a lot to you. How would you react if someone or something threatened this? Now write about a character in that situation.

3) Choose any character from this list and develop their own voice. Do they have an accent? Any expressions / catchphrases they use? Are they soft-spoken / loud? ◦ Fitness fanatic ◦ disillusioned nurse ◦ a bored, gifted student ◦ a jovial social climber ◦ a music-loving dentist

CREATING SETTING 1) Create a domestic setting for one of the following characters so that we can imagine the absent person vividly: A middle-aged recluse, a heart-throb actor; a foster child; a famous poet with writer’s block. Now create a list of five precious items belonging to that character. Is there a larger story: A secret concealed in one of them; do any of them belong to someone else? Is one of them deliberately hidden?

2) Imagine a specific setting – e.g. a graveyard; a cinema; a romantic restaurant; the beach. Now imagine your character is in that setting and they feel really upset –their heart is breaking. Describe the setting from their point of view. What similes / metaphors used to describe the setting could convey the character’s emotions? Alternatively, imagine the same setting but this time a character who is ecstatically happy! Their heart is bursting with joy. How does the setting appear through their eyes? Think about all the other senses and how the setting could reflect their emotions. 3) Write 100 words of a scene in which a character feels trapped in their surroundings with no chance of escape - e.g. a boarding school, a family holiday, a relative’s house at Christmas, a hated job. Show their feelings through description of place and NOT JUST by describing their thoughts and feelings.

4) Write the beginning of a short story where it is a character’s first day at a new job / school. Through the description, atmosphere, hints about the rules and hierarchy of the place, give the reader a sense of whether this person will succeed at their job / school or whether something bad will happen to them...

The Higher English folio guidance also suggests the following: Creative Writing The best creative writing challenges the reader, makes her/him do some work – in the same way as you do when you study a short story or a poem in class. You should do more than just “tell a story” – there should be some underlying theme and/or complex characterisation, or perhaps a strong sense of place. Try to use some of the techniques you see in the literature you read yourself or study in class, for example subtle characterisation, creation of mood and atmosphere, specific narrative technique, effective sentence structures, etc. Your creative writing should be capable of being studied as a “Textual Analysis” piece for a Higher English class! Try to imagine it being “picked apart” by a teacher and pupils – teasing out the “meaning”, praising your imagery, complimenting your sentence structures, puzzling over a “difficult” bit …

In prose fiction, the range of subject matter and themes open to the writer is limitless, and there is great scope here for different forms of writing. You may choose to produce, for example:  a short story  an extract, such as the opening, the conclusion or a key episode from an imaginary novel  a focused piece of characterisation  a monologue or dialogue  a detailed description of an imaginary setting  a series of diary entries  an exchange of letters. Whatever the subject matter or form chosen, you should note that the writing of fiction requires skill and control of the following features:  a plot or clear narrative framework, centred on identifiable characters and leading to some kind of denouement  a structure which shapes content and theme  dialogue, imagery and symbolism  a stance or tone, which, while not intrusive or obvious, demonstrates the writer’s command of the material. The choice of subject matter may include:  a person, a place, an object  an event, a situation, a relationship  a discovery, a choice, a dilemma  a prejudice, a delusion, an obsession  a memory, an image, an insight  an experience, an issue, an activity. Fiction is primarily a means of aesthetic expression. It should be borne in mind, however, that it can serve many other functions and purposes, for example:  to entertain, amuse  to raise awareness of an issue  to satirise  to comment on the human condition. Fiction writing allows you to choose from a wide variety of possible treatments, including the innovative and the experimental. The chosen treatment will depend to a large extent on your distinctive aim and imaginative grasp of theme and topic.