The Idea - The First Step to Writing a Story

A story is inspired by an idea. I have written a number of stories—both long and short and it is always the same for each case. Believe it or not, all stories start from as simple a building block as this. It is upon this building block that the writer starts constructing; expanding and adding other blocks until we have a complete structure, so to speak.

Like a literal building where the foundation supports the whole structure and determines the stability, an idea permeates the whole story. It directs the whole flow of thought towards one definite conclusion.

"I am stuck! I don't know what to write about!"

How often have you uttered or heard those words?

Is it perhaps your perpetual nightmare and you have absolutely no clue on how you can end it?

Here are some tips...

Firstly, stop staring at that wall and biting your pencil. It will do you no good—seriously, I mean it.

Writers get their ideas by listening and seeing. So what are you seeing on that wall? What are you listening to in the eerie and maddening silence of your room?

Rule number one: Get up, go outside and stretch your limbs!!!

It is a whole world of ideas out there...

As you prowl through the streets or country side with a casual gait and a thoughtful expression on your face, you are bound to see something of interest or hear something ‘sumptuous’ that may just be that idea that you need to get started.

Let us illustrate this with a fictitious character by the name of John.

John loves writing short stories. It is the one activity that dominates most of his waking hours. But today, things are not working out so fine for John. To his dismay, when he settles down to write at his desk, he has absolutely no idea of what to write. What an uncanny attack of writer’s block!

So John decides to take a walk. As he strolls through the compound, he observes a scuffle from a distance.

A group of excited school girls surround a boy, hurling sarcastic remarks at him. They call him all sorts of names, as if deliberately trying to annoy him. The boy finally cracks. In a burst of fury, he grabs one of the girls and pummels her with his fists. In a frenzy of excitement, all the girls run off, leaving the boy standing all alone with his chest heaving and an angry grimace on his face.

John certainly feels for the boy but at the same time, he feels a certain amount of disdain for the boy’s violent outburst. If he were not violent, he would not have earned the contempt of those girls in the first place. If only he could do something about it!

John, like most writers, is not the sort who wants to get involved in other people’s skirmishes—least he gets scorched himself. However, with a smile on his face, he scurries home. He has just had a brilliant thought. He can write a story about a bully who gets sorted out by a group of girls. What a good way of addressing the problem without actually getting physically involved! His head swirls with thoughts of how his story will be.

Do you see how one can get ideas for a story? For John, a skirmish that he observes is what gives him an idea.

Sometimes, the inspiration for a story can come from quite a preposterous source…

To help you see how I mean, I will take you back to the time I was a dexterous little boy. Oh, I was really a pencil pusher back then. I was not only interested in writing, but I was also interested in drawing. Of the two, writing got the upper hand.

I still remember that day I sat in the presence of my mother and her friend. As they chatted away the afternoon, as is typical of women, I was sketching a drawing of my dog, which, for lack of names, I had branded ‘Doggy’.

After staring at the completed drawing with a smile of satisfaction, it suddenly occurred to me that it would make a good cover for a dog story!

So that very afternoon, I wrote a story of a heroic dog. It did not end there. I wrote a series of stories about, not only my dog but also my cat. So for me, the idea for my story was a simple drawing of a dog.

As shown above, ideas for stories are found all around us; in the things we see and hear everyday. Something as simple as a picture, a flower, the sound of a bird, a warm smile, a song, a laugh or even an object as inanimate as a mug may be all that is needed to get the engines started.

As illustrated by the example of John above, someone may write a story as an answer to a certain problem.

For instance, at one point back at university, a certain girl I liked hinted at taking her own life. Desperate to iron out her warped up thinking, I wrote her a story whose idea was to show her how foolish such a course would be. Though the story was in bad taste, I think she got the point. Anyway, she never uttered such statements again. Well, at least that is what I remember.

There is also a story I remember quite fondly. I wrote it sometime after I realised that a certain girl I had fallen in love with was not going to return my affection or let alone sustain it. As a way of venting, but simultaneously trying to tell her that I understood the reason for her action, I wrote that story. It is a tale of one young man disoriented by a broken heart and his ultimate emancipation from the fatal grip of debilitating emotion when he finds his ‘true’ love. It is one of my favourite and if I really think about it, you may get to read it.

So as a writer, be observant. You might never know what might motivate you to pick up that pen of yours and start writing.

And by all means, if you are stuck for ideas, leave that desk, table or computer of yours and take a walk!!!

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