The main purpose of this article is to help you, the writer, discover new ways to generate new ideas. This technique is for fiction.

One way you can develop story ideas is to look at pictures. Go through magazines and pull out photos that are interesting to you, go through family photo books, search the internet for inspiring photos.

Create a photo storyboard for yourself , then ask yourself questions about the photos. Who are these people? what can you tell abut them from just looking at them? Match them with landscape or setting photos. add other people or things. then develop questions that relate the people together . Do they look like they would be friends or enemies? You can find photos of interesting things. What would the people do with these things?

The opportunities are endless.

Look at the photos above. Who is the man? What would his name be? What job would he have? Look at the landscape photo. Where is it? What is the name of this place> What will happen here? Who will go here? What conflict will the people have to resolve here?

Look at the picture of the dolphin. What is the role of this animal? How does it forward your story? Why is it important. Perhaps it is a thinking reasoning, self-aware creature. Maybe it is your main character and the story revolves from its point of view.

Look at the boat how does it play into the story? does it belong to an of the characters? Was it abandoned ? Was it found? Is it evidence of another character?

Writing prompt:

Try to come up with a short story for these photos or choose photos of your own. Write a story. Feel free to share the story and I’ll give you my thoughts if you ask for them. Of If you like, I’ll just post them for fun. Any stories you submit will be credited to you and listed as a response to this prompt. Just remember, it’s publishing of a sort.

Good luck and remember

Write often, Write everything, Write everywhere.

Fran & T.J.