January is over and February has begun. The groundhog has seen his shadow, and it’s a perfect time to hunker down in front of a cozy fire. There’s no better time to take a second look at all the picture book ideas I came up with and pick one to turn into a story.
Before I do, I’m going to re-read some of the many excellent posts that were shared during Storystorm’s month of creative encouragement. There were so many ideas and perspectives that could help me generate even more ideas or help me focus my writing. Kirsten Pendreigh’s post on “Ideagrients” was definitely one I’m going to refer to when honing in on exactly the story I want to tell.
Ideagrients™: distinctive fragments and descriptive sparks that elevate ideas. May include—but not limited to—gorgeous words, evocative images, sensory details, original names, and clever language devices. According to experts at PBIU (Picture Book Idea University), good ideas require a minimum of five Ideagrients before story writing can begin.
Kirsten’s suggestion is to search for specificity and clarity in who your character is, what they want, where their setting is, and what the language is that you want to use all before you commit to any writing time. She recommends assembling your ideagrients in order to have an easier time creating a compelling pitch, enjoy a smoother writing process and create a better end product. Who’s ready to sous-chef up a story? Me!
Another great post, this one about finding ideas to make into a story, was provided by Ebony Lynn Mudd who suggested literally scrolling for them. Here are some of the scrollable accounts she suggested.
Scrollable Account #1 – @Goodable on Twitter and Instagram
What is it: The world’s happiest and healthiest daily news—when you need it the most.
Scrollable Account #2 – @sambentley on Instagram
What is it: Content about sustainable living and good news you may not have heard about.
Scrollable Account #3 – @livefromsnacktime on Instagram and @livefromsnackti on Twitter
What is it: NYC teacher Alyssa Cowit,was so fascinated by the questions and comments from her students that she started to chronicle them online.
Then there was CK Malone’s post on following or, more exactly, not following directions, but just writing from your heart.
And there was Marzieh Abbas’ post on mining for memories in which she wrote about how photos and the memories they bring to mind can be a source of inspiration.
So many great recommendations from so many fantastic creators, I know I’m going to keep going back to them.
Finally the last guest post of Storystorm, written by Corey Finkel, delivered a dose of hope.
In that post Corey spoke about his writing journey which was one I could definitely relate to as I’m sure many other Storystormers could as well.
Writer-Reader-Teacher 