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 )

In the search for ideas to prevent the dreaded writer’s ‘blank page syndrome’, here are more fiction writing exercises – ideas for writing fiction #8:

So far we’ve used dictionaries to jump-start some new ideas, playing with words we might never have ever thought of using. Then we tweaked with other people’s stories to get our brains kicked up to an even higher gear, making up new endings and beginnings to get us past the next white page staring at us. We followed that up by creating characters, picking a strong trait or quirk or two to help us write a story based on those people so we can start to populate our work. For a few more ideas, we’ve been checking newspapers, using proverbs/quotations, and correspondence to help us find fodder for more stories/situations. And then we started ‘filling out’ our characters’ backgrounds/lives by providing them with motives for why they do what they do, working on one of a writer’s holy grails – creating 3-dimensional characters.

Now let’s find someplace interesting for them to do it:

8. Start with a setting

Write a short story with one of the following settings: a small seaside town; a pub, cafe or restaurant; a doctor’s waiting room; a hotel or boarding house; a factory; a busy office; a bus or railway station; a caravan park; a garage; a shop or supermarket; a theme park; a 13th story tower block flat; a school; a nursery; a college campus; a picnic. Perhaps the setting itself could provide the source of conflict in your story: for example, a wife wants to move to the country, while her husband prefers to live in town.

Setting can sometimes be one of the most memorable parts of a story: to me, classic examples of places helping to drive a story are WUTHERING HEIGHTS with its manor on the moors or REBECCA’s gothic mansion Manderlay with its hidden rooms and people. Another more recent one that shows how the ‘scenery’ can influence the plot (and most definitely the characters) is THE SHINING, Stephen King’s classic thriller where the hotel is a character in and of itself.

Whether you’re writing a story, a novel or a screenplay, where you ‘stage’ it can make or break the mood you’re trying to establish, so pay equal attention to the wheres when considering who and what to write about. Then play with the descriptions, adding and taking away as necessary to establish the scene so that the ‘background’ is ‘organic’ (fits the story without being in your face – unless you intend it to be that way, of course.)

You might try writing your story in one locale, getting the other factors, such as characters and situations in place, then try switching the action to someplace completely differently to see what a change in scenery would do to the rest of the framework. It might seem extremely more serious suddenly or you might find it hilarious to find those same people doing whatever they were doing in a wholely unexpected venue. (Think WHEN HARRY MET SALLY – what Sally does in one scene would be ‘predictable’ and ‘expected’ if done in a bedroom, but move it to a deli, and oh my!)

(These ideas are based on 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 )

Here’s your next installment of Fiction Writing Exercises – Ideas for Writing Fiction #7. So far you (should) have been writing about what’s been happening to your characters using the various idea-generating techniques. Now, we want to start to fill out our stories with ‘why’ the characters are doing what they’re doing:

7. What’s My Motive?

Start with a character who wants something badly. It might be a new job, a new partner, a holiday, something else. Place obstacles in the path of your character and show how he/she overcomes these (or fails to).

Part of what makes a story good or even great is knowing why a character does what he or she does, or at least thinking you do, so you can either identify with that person, or if it’s not someone you came sympathize with, then maybe you can possibly live vicariously through his or her adventures, read about things you would never do, but have always been curious to experience, even if only in a book.

If the people in your work just walk around like robots (and they AREN’T robots) then your readers won’t connect in a meaningful way and probably won’t want to continue to read your story. You need to provide the why’s along with the how’s, what’s and where’s to keep it compelling, making the people in your work fully realized and at least somewhat recognizable to the general reading public.

But be careful. As a rule, you don’t want to just come out and say “So and so wants X, so they did Y.” (Or maybe you do…) However, that probably won’t engage your reader for very long. Generally it’s best to let the action or situations help the reader understand the “why” along with “how” and the rest, drawing the reader in as the story progresses. (As they say, “Show, don’t tell” for a more visceral, engaging experience.)

Depending on the strength of your characters’ desires, dreams and ‘motives’, they will help drive the actions your characters will take to achieve their goals or help accentuate any disappointments they will suffer when they don’t reach them (or both if you put in a few interesting twists.) The better you establish the motives behind the action, the better your overall story will be, especially as you create longer and more involved works.

(These ideas are based on 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 )

(With all the creative writing exercises you’ve been (hopefully) doing, here’s a great article on how to write and get a book published – the next step in your writer’s evolution.)

How to Author and Publish a Book
By Bob Burnham

1. The most important thing you can do before you write and publish a book is to make sure that someone out there wants to read it. Better yet, a couple thousand people want to read it. There is not much point to writing and publishing a book if you do not have an audience.
2. The good news is that there are many wonderful tools that you can use to determine if there is a demand for your book’s topic. Online keyword tools, forums, and even speaking with people in your industry will help you determine if people are actively searching for your information.
3. Begin by brainstorming specific book ideas. If you are using your book as a business card or a tool to build credibility in your career then you already have a place to start. If you’re starting from scratch then make a list of topics that you want to write about. It’s important to write about something that you are interested in and passionate about. Your love for your topic will come through in your writing and it will be a better book.

Once you have a general idea for your book’s topic, consider how the book is going to benefit your readers. What will they gain from reading it? Will they have pets that are better trained? Will they be able to purchase a software program that makes their lives easier? Will they be smarter, sexier, wealthier, thinner, more respected? Define exactly how your book is going to make their lives better and then write and structure your book to make it happen.

Consider writing a sales page or synopsis before you write your book. Your sales page or synopsis will highlight the benefits your book provides and the kind of information you cover. You can then use your sales page to structure your book – your sales page will work as a lighthouse to keep you focused and headed in the right direction.

Give yourself a certain amount of time to complete your book – whether you write it yourself or not. It’s easy to let other things sidetrack you and the book you planned on publishing this year does not get published for ten years or more.

Make a plan and stick to it even if it means that you only write for ten minutes a day. It is possible to write and publish a book in a month, but you have to commit to the process.

• Self publish for faster results and more money. We spend more than 14 billion dollars a year purchasing self published books. Someone is clearly making a lot of money. Self publishing gives you the power to see your book on store shelves in a tenth of the time that it takes to publish traditionally. It also gives you 100% control over your book and 100% of the profits.

You can self publish> your book electronically, in print, or a combination of both. In fact, many people that self publish go on to sign huge contracts with traditional publishing houses. Chicken Soup for the Soul started out as self published books and they have gone on to make Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen millions in sales and publishing contracts. Even better, the contents of those books are written by others!

Electronic publication is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to publish and market your book and it’s a great way to test the waters. It begins with a website to promote your book, a marketing plan, an auto responder campaign to distribute it via email, and a way to collect the money from your sales.

Really, it does not get any easier. You can author and publish your book quickly and easily. How soon do you want to see your name in print and reap the benefits of being an author? 20 days? 30 days? Get busy and make it happen.

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Go To: How To Publish A Book

Bob Burnham
Entrepreneur, Consultant and Author of Reasons Why You Must Write A Book

For Information on How to Write and Publish your own book go to Expert Author : http://www.expertauthorpublishing.com
Read More On: Write and Publish Your Own Book

Here is the next lesson of Fiction Writing Exercises – Ideas for Writing Fiction #5

5. Proverbs

Write a story based on a proverb or a quotation, e.g.:

• A fool and his money are soon parted.
• The early bird gets the worm.
• Waste not, want not.
• Rome was not built in a day.
• Necessity is the mother of invention.
• If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
• Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
• Cheaters never prosper.
• It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.
• Nice guys finish last.
• When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
• It’s Greek to me.
• There’s a sucker born every minute.

You get the idea… Now try to run with it, adding a twist, such as combining two proverbs or taking a proverb and turning it inside out. Think about the movie LIAR, LIAR – in the main character’s world, “cheaters (aka liars) DO prosper”, have great jobs, women, hot cars, etc. All that changes for our main guy, though, when his son makes a wish that makes dad tell the truth for a day. Suddenly, “honesty is the best policy” ruins most of what the main character THINKS is important in his life, causing disaster after disaster, until he finally realizes what he’s been missing and finds a way to turn it all around, which brings us to “it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.”

(These fiction writing exercises are based on 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 on CD.)