Developing Story Ideas, 3rd Edition

13 Tale from Childhood

This book’s purpose is to develop ideation skills, so it asks that you produce outlines, never a polished end product. Such over-attention to detail during the gestation of a narrative idea would only be a distraction.

The book’s website (www.routledge.com/cw/rabiger) contains additional assignments that teachers or group coordinators may like to consider as alternatives. These I list with a brief description under “Going Further” at the end of relevant chapters. Depending on the level or special interests of the writers, some may prove very rewarding.

The assignments in this and many other chapters call for bold, even reckless sketch-work, so remember to write in scene-outline form and to stay in author mode. When your ...