Story Starter: how does it work?
I’ve posted quite a few Story Starter pictures to offer inspiration over the last few weeks. But what if you’ve looked at those pictures and thought, “Very pretty – but now what?” No bubbling inspiration, just a sense of helplessness.
I want to refer you to the blog of one of our regular writers, Wendy Clarke, who will often post about what inspired a story she’s written for “The People’s Friend” and how she developed the initial idea. There’s an example here, and it’s a very good illustration of how a story idea doesn’t often present itself fully-formed, but is the drawing together of a number of different thoughts and influences, sights and sounds. Wendy talks about Greek islands she’s visited, a piece in her guidebook, a question she asked herself….all recalled and interwoven to make one really interesting and engaging story which we happily included in Special 122, on sale last month. Browse her blog: she’s written a lot of other posts about this, too.
My dandelion clock picture kind of represents that for me: all those seeds, just waiting to scatter at the first breath of wind, to land who knows where?
