How to Get Story Ideas Out of Your Head and Onto the Page

I recently received the following query from a writer:

“I have several stories inside me. I have your Book of Writing Prompts. Yet which book would really help me get the stories out of my head and onto the paper?”

The subtitle of The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing doesn’t give a fair estimation of the overall intent of this plot writing book. Yes, the prompts book is filled with daily affirmations and plot advice, yet the 120 prompts are not random but intended to prompt you to write scene-by-scene all the way to the end of a novel, memoir, screenplay with a plot.

As one recent Amazon reviewer who found the book of prompts helpful in getting her story ideas out of her head and onto the page writes: “This book by Martha Alderson is not your regular book of prompts. You won’t find an entry such as “Write about that time your boyfriend cheated on you.” This book will help you write a full novel from beginning to end because each prompt helps you develop a scene that starts you writing and I guarantee you won’t stop until the scene or maybe the whole chapter is done. Ms. Alderson helps the writer understand how each scene in your story leads to another and another and so forth. She gives tremendous insight on how to plot your story. She explains how the energy level must keep rising until it leads to the crisis when all seem lost for the character. Still, she will help writers continue raising the stakes until the character reaches the climax and achieves her dream or go by using the skills she has been developing all along. Then, she guides the writer through the resolution and ending of the story.”

Each set contains three prompts:

The daily affirmation is designed to help raise your energy to write.
The plot element explains the plot and structure elements to consider at that spot in your story and what to do.
The writing prompt is a specific exercise, the object of which is to get you to write something that advances the plot of your story

The daily affirmation included with each prompt is designed to help you get into the habit of writing creatively every day, with brand-new imaginative prompts, such as:

Create an obstacle that interferes with the protagonist’s goal and describe how that scene unfolds moment-by-moment.
Provide sensory details of the story world and what your main character is doing at this very moment.
Scan earlier scenes for examples of the protagonist’s chief character flaw and develop it. He or she will need to overcome this flaw in order to achieve his or her ultimate goal.
Show an issue or situation in the main character’s life that needs attention and have him or her take the first step forward toward a course of action.

That being said, if The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts doesn’t get your story ideas out of your head and onto the page, then perhaps, you’ll benefit from plotting out your story ideas first.

My other books focus more on how to organize the story ideas you have inside you into a plot. The idea is that by placing all the ideas swirling around in your head in a coherent structure allows you to then write your scene ideas one scene at a time from beginning to end.

Along with plotting help, The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master addresses many of the plot and personal issues you may confront as you endeavor to write your story while Writing Blockbuster Plots: A Step-by-Step Guide for Mastering Plot, Structure, and Scene is a more straight forward approach to plotting your story. The Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Write a Compelling Story works well with both options as a place to tease out the ideas.

Then there is the online video course How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? that takes you step-by-step through 31 exercises to help you get the ideas in your head onto the page. For writers who are dyslexic and do better with a tutorial that does not involve reading, this program can be a life-saver.

I have other plot books and online video courses for help after you’ve written a draft.

All of my plot books are intended to help you write that story that continues to haunt you and won’t let you go…

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