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How To Find Ideas For Stories

 It is very difficult to pin down how a good idea for a story comes about because, to tell you the truth, it can come from anywhere. Today, I will be talking about how I keep my story-sense on high alert at all times. This post is not about doing research, because research only comes after you get an idea and you need to build the world and events around your story. No, this post is about that 'aha' moment when you get a plot for a story.

[Here is the video that mirrors this post.]

If you live in a modern town or city, the area you move about in is generally safe, so it is very easy to tune out of your surroundings. You don't have to worry about stepping on animal droppings, or on a snake, or worry about what is hiding behind a leafy bush in front of you. You can safely keep your head bowed over a book or a smartphone and walk on.

However, if you want to be a convincing storyteller, you need to tune into your surroundings. You need to put away your device and pay attention to the goings-on about you. But good ideas cannot be forced, you say, it must come from some higher source in the ether. That's okay if you only want to pursue storytelling as a hobby. Just so you know, a professional storyteller does not sit around and wait for that 'aha' moment to strike. We keep an eye out for it, all the time.

Here are three things I do increase my chances of coming up with stories.


1. Scan Your Surroundings

Yes, you will be that strange passenger on a commuter bus or train who is not looking down at a smart phone or a magazine. Keep in mind that this is not research to help you describe a train or a bus scene in your book. I will talk about research in a later video.

For now, just scan your surroundings and watch the people because one of them might inspire a story out of you. Start your brain ticking by guessing who they are from the way they dress. Imagine why someone would sit or stand a certain way. What are they carrying? Why are they carrying it? Are they alone or with friends? You get the drift. 

I was in Singapore for about a week in 2013, and was on the commuter train almost daily to go to the National Library. Those daily ten minute trips had given me the idea for 'The Laughing Monster' which was published by Scholastic Asia in 2018. I noticed a shy, awkward foreign labourer who was sitting across from me. His other two mates were better dressed and more confident, but he shrunk away from everyone, until a young boy sat down next to him and began playing a game on his smartphone. This shy man was so enchanted, he could not look away. His childlike awe moved me.


2. Tune Into Your Emotion

Not everything, however, is story worthy, so when you are looking for inspiration listen to your heart. If something is a good idea but does not move your heart, don't waste time writing it. As in the example before, I was moved by the man because he was so alive compared to everyone else in the train. For that brief moment, I imagined that he forgot about his poverty and started to aspire for something more than just the basic necessities of life. Was coming to work in Singapore worth the sacrifice of being separated from his loved ones? I don't know. But I can easily imagine that the time he spent watching the boy play had strengthened his resolve to succeed.

It is not possible to move a reader if you cannot find anything to move you. Even when I am writing my children's stories, I always make sure that something about the story excites me, or touches me emotionally. When I am writing horror, I focus more on the emotional anticipation rather than on the visual description of the monster. Nowadays there are so much fantastic CGI & animated design of monsters, that there is nothing awful enough that you can say about a monster's looks that is guaranteed to frighten a reader. So don't just focus on the looks. Give some attention to the emotions too.


3. Make Up A Story

After you have seen someone or something that moves you, the next step is to keep the flame going by making up a story in your head about this person or object. This will solidify that feeling you have for that moment. For example as I was watching the foreign labourer watching the boy, I imagined him longing to learn to play the game. Then I imagined him wondering if he could ever afford a smartphone, for himself or for his child back home. How long must he work? How much can he save? 

You can also do this for inanimate objects by projecting yourself into a situation. In most eateries in Sibu nowadays, when you order food, they will send the fork and spoon or chopsticks in a glass or bowl of hot water. One time the serving girl placed in front of me a mug with its handle broken off. Immediately it occured to me that the mug was still performing its most essential service: holding hot water. But now its role has changed from being a mug for drinking to being a vessel for pasteurising utensils. How would I feel if my life's purpose was changed because someone else was careless and broke me? Would I be grateful for the new role or will I feel down? After I'm broken, will I be handled with more care, or more carelessly?

Any idea you come up with can be used as the plot for your story. As in the mug observation example, I used it for a human character in a short story, 'The City That Jack Wrecked'. I have never had this story published before though, because the character was so dark and angry. Admittedly, this is a good backstory for a dystopian novel. But I have had to put it on the backburner because of other stuff going on in life.

In the course of your journey down this road, you will also write stories that you don't publish. That is alright because the story is still valuable for your growth. You can come back to it again in a few years to decide if you have progressed far enough to improve it or get it published. 

Just start writing, keep writing, and remember to share this post. The more aware people become of indigenous literature, the more interested readers will become, hence the easier it will be for you to get published in the future. Good luck.

P.S.: All the books and stories that I have published to date, are barely 10% of the stories I have come up with over the years.

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Location: Sibu, Sarawak Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

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