Dan Brown’s bestselling THE LOST SYMBOL, featuring Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon, will follow THE DA VINCI CODE and ANGELS & DEMONS into theaters, but it won’t be written by Akiva Goldsmith, writer of the first two screenplays.

According to reports in Variety, Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) has been chosen to pen the 3rd movie.  Also, so far, Ron Howard, director of the first two, is currently only attached as a producer, and Tom Hanks hasn’t signed up to repeat his role as Langdon, but it’s hoped that the duo will continue the successful relationship that helped turn the 1st two movies into box office magic.   Hanks himself has said about doing a third movie, “I’d love to if they’re going to do it. I’m not going to walk away from that. If they make it again, I hope they ask me.”

ANGELS & DEMONS did not due as well as THE DA VINCI CODE at the box office.  However, THE LOST SYMBOL was the fastest selling adult fiction book in history (selling 1 million copies on its first day of release back in Sept 2009) so it’s no doubt hoped by Columbia that the new movie will kick the franchise’s revenue back up a notch or two. The new book (and film) take Langdon this time to Washington DC and up against Freemason mythos.  The movie has an anticipated release date of 2012.

Jim Harrison, best known for his book of novellas LEGENDS OF THE FALL which had the title story made into a movie with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, has a new book of novellas out, called THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER.  (And no, it isn’t a dirty jokebook, although it does have some sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in at least one of the stories.)

This new book includes three stories: THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER, a coming of age tale; BROWN DOG REDUX, a story of the continuing adventures of Brown Dog, a part Native American character from an earlier book; and THE GAMES OF NIGHT, a werewolf tale.

As Harrison’s writing has matured, it has moved more and more towards poetry, his preferred method of storytelling, and away from pure fiction, and this book is no different. In fact, if you’re not used to his style of writing, you may find this book a little hard to read.  It may be better to actually go back and find his earlier works, and read those first,  ”easing” yourself into his current style.

Here’s the final fiction writing exercise for this series – ideas for writing fiction #12:

12. Agony Aunt

Other good sources of fiction ideas include the agony columns and letters pages in many women’s, men’s and general interest magazines. Read about the problems described and see if you could work them into a story.

One other quick bit of advice – once you have an idea for a story, don’t be in too much of a hurry to start writing. Mull it over, develop it, see if you can add some interesting twists and turns. Don’t be too easily satisfied with your first idea, as often these are unoriginal. Aim to surprise your reader by confounding his or her expectations. Give your story idea time to mature.

(These ideas are adapted from the work of Nick Daws, who is a best-selling author living in Staffordshire, England. His book, “Write Any Book in Just 28 Days OR LESS” is available at writequickly.com )

To tweak your imagination so more when looking for story fodder, try the next Fiction Writing Exercises – Ideas for Writing Fiction #11:

11. Picture This.

Pictures and photographs can often suggest ideas. Try visiting your local art gallery, or just look in a newspaper or magazine.

Sometimes using an existing visual image can help you develop and/or enhance your ‘written’ image, helping you provide the reader with enough detail and background to help them ‘see’ the scenes and people who inhabit your stories, adding and using things you might not have thought of when relying on totally imaginary places that exist only in your mind. Rather than try to keep it all in your head, you can have an image or images nearby to help keep it straight as you write, i.e., what’s what and where everything is in relationship to each other.

Even if you decided to use a totally fictional locale, taking pieces of other places, say from photos, to ‘build’ your new one, can make it easier to avoid mistakes in continuity or accuracy, especially as your works get longer and more involved.

(These ideas are adapted from the work of Nick Daws, who is a best-selling author living in Staffordshire, England. His book, “Write Any Book in Just 28 Days OR LESS” is available at writequickly.com )

If you’re still stuck for an idea of something to write about after the first 9, then try the next Fiction Writing Exercises – Ideas for Writing Fiction #10:

10. Mining Your Past.

Consider using your past as a source of story ideas. To help prime the pump, get out your old school reports and school magazines. Was there a teacher you especially loved or hated? Maybe you could write a story about him or her. Similarly, did you have a close friend or a sworn enemy among your classmates? Maybe you could update the relationship and turn it into a story about two adults. Bring out your old family photographs and memorabilia. Do those photos of a summer picnic, a sports day or a seaside holiday suggest ideas for stories?

Sometimes it’s easier to get going when you start with something you’ve personally experienced rather than trying to make up something from scratch. The old adage ‘write what you know’ has worked well for people like Frank McCourt (ANGELA’S ASHES) or Pat Conroy (MY LOSING SEASON, THE PRINCE OF TIDES) who’ve based part or all their work on their own pasts and became bestselling authors doing it.

Just be very careful about using real, identifiable, people in your writing as not everyone wants to be immortalized in print and may feel a bit litigious over your characterizations – the family portrayed in RUNNING WITH SCISSORS by Augusten Burroughs sued, alleging defamation of character, invasion of privacy, and emotional distress stating that Burroughs had fabricated or exaggerated various descriptions of their activities…

So the idea isn’t to write a memoir, unless you really feel the need to share your life with the rest of the world, but is more to help practice writing stories that resonate with the resemblance of reality (or at least, as they say, ‘give artistic verisimilitude to [what would be] an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative’…)

(These ideas are adapted from the work of Nick Daws, who is a best-selling author living in Staffordshire, England. His book, “Write Any Book in Just 28 Days OR LESS” is available at writequickly.com )