I want to write a story. But about what? (2 Viewers)

[Shadowdude]

That's my dilemma - I put my name down for Extension English 2 but I can't really grasp what I want to write about exactly. I can think of stuff on the spot, hopefully you guys can help me brainstorm?

I have six suggestions so far, tell me what you think - and please suggest! (Don't just go "Those are considerably inadequate" or "NAAHHH THOSE ARE GAY, BRAHH")

- The Year 10 formal - a story about how as society we are celebrating things that don't need to be celebrated, overspending on things that don't really matter (girls with $400 dollar dresses, etc.) and contrasting that with the less than exquisite venue
- Unrequited "Love" - a guy likes a girl, who mistakes this girl being friendly towards him as her liking him; the girl however starts seeing the guy's advances and dismisses him as 'the creepy stalker'
- High School Reunion - starts off with the farewell speech at year 12 and then cuts straight to the 10 year high school reunion where we find how the roles have reversed since high school - the bullies are now the bullied, the nerds are now the well-off and the once dominant teachers are... somewhat dominant teachers
- Poker Face - documents a story about a gambler who goes to a casino one night to play, but he is a maths genius, and is written in a stream-of-consciousness type of thing, analysing odds and getting into his head. Yes, I did think this up while watching Casino Royale =P
- Lockdown - a story about a student in school who was having a normal day, walking to class until the lockdown bell rang, this follows the initial "What's that sound?" followed by the hectic "GET INTO THE CLASSROOM NOW" and the thoughts and feelings of those affected, is this a drill? Is it real? If so, what will I do?
- Teacher's Lounge - what exactly goes on in the teacher's lounge? Well, at the District of York High School, the teachers bet on the student's relationships, so when one teacher decides to bet $1000 on one scenario, some teachers start to get a little skeptical...

 

[Pain]

That's my dilemma - I put my name down for Extension English 2 but I can't really grasp what I want to write about exactly. I can think of stuff on the spot, hopefully you guys can help me brainstorm?

I have six suggestions so far, tell me what you think - and please suggest! (Don't just go "Those are considerably inadequate" or "NAAHHH THOSE ARE GAY, BRAHH")

- The Year 10 formal - a story about how as society we are celebrating things that don't need to be celebrated, overspending on things that don't really matter (girls with $400 dollar dresses, etc.) and contrasting that with the less than exquisite venue
- Unrequited "Love" - a guy likes a girl, who mistakes this girl being friendly towards him as her liking him; the girl however starts seeing the guy's advances and dismisses him as 'the creepy stalker'
- High School Reunion - starts off with the farewell speech at year 12 and then cuts straight to the 10 year high school reunion where we find how the roles have reversed since high school - the bullies are now the bullied, the nerds are now the well-off and the once dominant teachers are... somewhat dominant teachers
- Poker Face - documents a story about a gambler who goes to a casino one night to play, but he is a maths genius, and is written in a stream-of-consciousness type of thing, analysing odds and getting into his head. Yes, I did think this up while watching Casino Royale =P
- Lockdown - a story about a student in school who was having a normal day, walking to class until the lockdown bell rang, this follows the initial "What's that sound?" followed by the hectic "GET INTO THE CLASSROOM NOW" and the thoughts and feelings of those affected, is this a drill? Is it real? If so, what will I do?
- Teacher's Lounge - what exactly goes on in the teacher's lounge? Well, at the District of York High School, the teachers bet on the student's relationships, so when one teacher decides to bet $1000 on one scenario, some teachers start to get a little skeptical...

THAT'S GAY BRAHHHH. Okay, for real now. I'm going to deal in the cold-hard truth. Your ideas suck so fucking bad. I'm sorry, they're just shit , uncreative and shit -- did i say shit already? Well their shit. Take a look at the MajorWorks section to get a taste of what descent creativity looks like. God man, are you so oblivious to the cliche inherent to these so-called ideas?

 

[marcquelle]

THAT'S GAY BRAHHHH. Okay, for real now. I'm going to deal in the cold-hard truth. Your ideas suck so fucking bad. I'm sorry, they're just shit , uncreative and shit -- did i say shit already? Well their shit. Take a look at the MajorWorks section to get a taste of what descent creativity looks like. God man, are you so oblivious to the cliche inherent to these so-called ideas?

hate to say it but +1

nothing to original there. Think outside the box. Take two uncommon objects and combine them and see what happens.

 

[alcalder]

Look at something going on in your life or around you and pose a "What if?". It may be a picture in a magazine or TV ad. It's the good "Waht if?" that will lead you towards something original and interesting.

 

[Shadowdude]

Thank you acalder - who gave the best advice out of everyone here.

Once again female intuition leads the way... or so it appears.

 

[klaris]

Your ideas are cliche but it is extremely hard not to write cliche. Try and take inspiration from quotes, song lyrics, books, movies, memories, authors, magazines, cynical people, friends, enemies, newspaper articles, world news, influential figures, naive people.

Morph all your ideas into one (if you can) or just write them all down on a piece of paper and brainstorm and connect ideas until something clicks and you can find a plot. It doesn't have to be very complex - I mean look at The Catcher in the Rye. Basic plot but has a stream-of-consciousness thing going on, which kinda makes it good. I don't really like the book but its the only example I can think of.

Maybe just something that someone has said could trigger something or an incident. The Slap written by Christos Tsiolkas takes a very simple everyday event (that has probably happened to all of us) where a kid misbehaves, parents won't do anything, so the cousin of the dad gives the kid a smack and tells him to cut it out. Tsiolkas managed to write an award-winning book on that simple event because he goes through what the people thought of 'the slap' and makes the reader question Australian society and Australian child-rearing and discipline.

I quite like the song lyric idea but only because I've read On The Jellicoe Road and it seems like the entire book is based on a line in a Cold Chisel song. It seems so brilliant that ideas can just flow from there.

Hope this helps.

 

[LordPc]

Look at something going on in your life or around you and pose a "What if?". It may be a picture in a magazine or TV ad. It's the good "Waht if?" that will lead you towards something original and interesting.

Thank you acalder - who gave the best advice out of everyone here.

Once again female intuition leads the way... or so it appears.

id be careful.

while alcalder did give some good advice, the idea must be done right. IMO, all of your ideas are things that you came up with by saying "what if". as in, most are "something going on in your life or around you" and you have asked"What if?". so if you are asking "what if", make sure you are asking about something not related to yourself

and as you can see from the feedback, the ideas so far arent creative enough, they are far too similar to your own situation and a few are quite cliche

another approach you might consider is to just go and find an idea, not a story or plot, just an idea that you find interesting. then do some research on it so you are familiar with it. then do some brainstorming (be really abstract) around that central notion and see if you can create a story out of it. this way you are slowing building up a story from a central idea, rather than just trying to create a whole story instantly which usually results in a cliche

 

[alex.leon]

I dunno, I think the basis of your ideas are quite good- but context, and maybe your explanation is a little...simple and cliche.

There are some issues/ideas/themes in your ideas which I think are well worth exploring, but only if you can deconstruct and write about them in a fluent and engaging way. Judging by your post (and I hate to judge) it seems that you're thinking quite simply and narrowly and worst of all shallowly - you need to expand your breadth of knowledge, take a few risks. A story about a Year 10 formal is probably NOT going to impress markers. The skeleton of your Year 10 formal idea, but superimposed into a different context, altered significantly, and written in sustaining, fresh language, however, could work.

I think your strongest ideas are 'Poker Face' and 'Teacher's Lounge'- but I stress, you need to be original in your thinking. And you need to develop these, bring in a concept, some kooky postmodern narrative techniques, different perspectives etc etc.

Also, don't start with titles. Start with concepts.

Happy writing

 

[Shadowdude]

Concepts: How about a story about a person who wakes up and has a million dollar idea?

 

[lychnobity]

Concepts: How about a story about a person who wakes up and has a million dollar idea?

Thought(s): Atrocious.

Edit your post. alex.leon gave the best advice.

Learn to separate your ideas from who you are. Use your experiences (if you must, I prefer not to most of the time) as a basis, and create a story in a heightened reality/alternate setting.

 

[Tulipa]

Okay. Stop pulling ideas out of thin air. They don't need to be full of action or insanely creative. At the moment it sounds like you're just reaching for random ideas that might sound good but are currently falling flat.

Stop, rewind and read. Get your hands on as many short stories as you can. I'd recommend reading The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O'Brien, The Fall by Virgilio Piñera Llera, A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger, etc.

Remember you have a word limit and the medium of a short story is very different to that of a novel which is why reading other short pieces will help you realise the limitations you're working with.

Read, research, read some more, look at the world around you, think about what you know, what you're interested in and what kind of story you want to tell. Think outside the box and then read some more. Once you come up with an idea, flesh it out and see if it will fit the limitations you're working with. Make sure you know the beginning, middle and end to the idea before writing it. In the fleshing out process you often see whether or not an idea will work. But first, read & research. I cannot stress that enough.

 

[alex.leon]

Concepts: How about a story about a person who wakes up and has a million dollar idea?

A concept comes before a situation or scenario. It could be, for example, a way of thinking- my concept this year was how consumerism effected society- from that concept I was able to concoct lots of hypothetical scenarios and ideas, and then from there I was able to write.

People approach creative writing in alot of different ways. But you need to read and research before you plunge into an idea. Think of it as if you were bungee jumping. You want to make sure that cable is damn strong before you jump, right?

 

[Shadowdude]

Indeed.

So essentially:

- Read other short stories, find limitations/structure/general tone/the vibe
- Research a general topic area and from that flesh out ideas
- Work through the ideas and get a general plot going
- From the plot find if it is feasible by comparing it to the limitations

Okay then, off to it I suppose.

I'm going to that Extension 2 seminar thing at Darling Harbour, that should also help.

 

[holycarp!]

dude, you really shouldnt be doing 4uEnglish. theres probably something you'll be better at and could get way better marks in.

 

[Shadowdude]

Well, my teachers subliminally encouraged me to take it - and well, have put it down as a subject I am interested in doing. However, I'll be going to that Darling Harbour expo thing for Ext. 2 English - and after that I should finalise my decision.

I've already came up with two concepts, and from that - have actually came up with a myriad of possible plot lines - so that's great advice. All I am yet to do is start reading short stories to get used to them.

I think that with much practice - and much effort, 100% is possible. Besides, creative writing has been my strong point in English, and I jumped at the chance to write one in this subject.

 

[Schoey93]

Hello Shadowdude. It's good to see that you have created some concepts to work with ('concepts' makes this sound a lot like Physics or maths, but that's all right!).

I see you (probably) like maths, as you do 3U. You could write a story about a mathematician. It would be interesting to explore the concepts/themes of belonging, isolation, marginalisation, intelligence, logic and illogical 'things' in a creative short story... but if you wish to keep maths and English as separated as possible for your HSC studies, then be my guest. I might use that idea for a short story of my own (not for Ext 2 though, I'm only doing Advanced ... stupid compulsory religion takes away my best chance at doing all the electives I want as well as doing Eng Ext 1)...

Cheers!

 

[scaredytiger]

Subliminally encouraged you...
How does a teacher do that, pray tell?

 

[chingyloke]

Get your hands on young writer's showcase and read all of their works...you'll see what it takes to get 50/50 and pick up some ideas along the way, see what goes down well with the markers, etc.

I didn't start writing until mid term 2 this year, so don't think you need to have a concept, structure and characterisations by next week.

 

[lychnobity]

Hello Shadowdude. It's good to see that you have created some concepts to work with ('concepts' makes this sound a lot like Physics or maths, but that's all right!).

I see you (probably) like maths, as you do 3U. You could write a story about a mathematician. It would be interesting to explore the concepts/themes of belonging, isolation, marginalisation, intelligence, logic and illogical 'things' in a creative short story... but if you wish to keep maths and English as separated as possible for your HSC studies, then be my guest. I might use that idea for a short story of my own (not for Ext 2 though, I'm only doing Advanced ... stupid compulsory religion takes away my best chance at doing all the electives I want as well as doing Eng Ext 1)...

Cheers!

Been done already. 08 Showcase book had about 2 that were similar.

For reference, they were called: Trivium Quadrivium, How to Build a Scientist

 

[Shadowdude]

Subliminally encouraged = *teacher goes into the room in Ext. 1* "Hello all, for those of you who want to do Extension 2 next year, we have tickets to this thing in Darling Harbour - now I know you haven't had an excursion all year..."

They got me at the word 'excursion'.

And chingy, I believe I read in the marking guidelines there was like an over-reliance on reading works from that Showcase - as a disadvantage. Correct me if I am wrong.

Also Schoey, that's a good concept - but that's your work, and I'll leave you to that. =)