ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Writing A Short Story: Getting Ideas

Updated on March 15, 2011

Sometimes you want to tell a story but then you get stuck in trying to get more ideas to add spice to your story. Whether you’re running out of ideas for character development, setting development or plot development, you’ve come to the right place to find tips on getting more ideas for your story.

Always bring a notebook/notepad and a pen

Let's say you are sipping coffee in a coffee shop and then you suddenly get an idea for a story. You tell yourself, "that's a good storyline". Then you come home and completely forget about it. This is why a pen and paper comes in handy for writers. Sometimes, ideas suddenly pop in our heads for a story, we need to jot it down immediately! If you don't have a piece of paper handy, jot it down on a piece of napkin or in the notes section of your cellphone or even at the back of your receipt.

Use your friends and relatives for character development

Chances are the most interesting people you will meet are part of your family or your circle of friends. Look at their personalities and their character. I'm pretty sure you will find something very interesting or very eccentric about them. Use one person's personality to develop a character in your story OR mix and match multiple people's personalities to develop a single character! The possibilities are endless. What's great about it is that you just have to look right under your nose for character development!

Peoplewatch

Again, for character development, you can sit on a park bench and just watch people pass by. Observe their qualities or the way they walk and talk. Use the most interesting quirks you can see to develop a character or characters. I personally once used a stranger I saw on the subway train to develop the antagonist of my story in my screenwriting class way back in college. My professor commended my character and asked me where I got the inspiration for it. People are very interesting to observe and you might just get enough bits and pieces of qualities and quirks to develop your character.

Look around you

This time, for setting development or to help you add more details to your setting. How can you describe the clouds? Are they fluffy and cottony or are they dark and gloomy? What can you hear? Can you hear chirping birds or growling dogs? Try to use your 5 senses to observe what's around you and use those senses to write a description of the setting in your story.

Tap into your own personal experiences

If you're really stumped about what to write about, use your personal experiences for inspiration! Have you ever been heartbroken? In love? Had a scary experience? Had a funny adventure? Use snippets of your life to create a short story. Your life is interesting, use it for ideas. :)

Life is a series of unexpected surprises. Look around.. observe.. be inspired by nature and the people around you. Create your story based on life as you see it! :)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)