Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Gary. Welcome to my short story apprenticeship course, part one. In the short practical course, you learn how to generate compelling story ideas that will be fun to write and
entertaining to read, will adopt an
apprenticeship approach. I'll describe the methods
that I've used to generate my best and most
profitable story ideas. And then you'll use the same techniques to
generate ideas of your own. So who am I? My name is Gary Hayden and I'm a writer with more than
20 years experience. During that time,
I've written hundreds of articles for new
standard magazines. I've written a regular column
for a national newspaper. I've written for traditionally published
non-fiction books. I've written quiz box, murder mystery games, and
a whole lot more besides. But most importantly, so far
as this course is concerned, I've written and sold
dozens of short stories. I currently teach courses in journalism, creative writing, and academic writing at Tokyo University of
Foreign Studies in Japan. You don't need any
prior knowledge or experience to
take this class. You just need a passion for fiction and a desire to right? When you've completed
the course, you will have at least
three story ideas ready to be crafted into
compelling short stories. And you'll be familiar with
a variety of techniques that will enable you to generate
more and more great ideas. Keen to get started. So am I. So let's begin.
2. Project: Your project for this
course is short and simple, but completing it
will require you to think deeply and flex
your imaginative muscle. You will generate
three intriguing ideas that you can later developed
into short stories. As you work through the course, you'll be directed to various sources of
inspiration for story ideas. And you'll be given real life
examples have how I used those sources to generate some of my own published stories. Then you'll be encouraged to generate story
ideas of your own. For your project, simply write a brief
summary of three of those ideas and make a note of them in your own
personal ideas journal. This is a super
practical project since you later be able to turn your ideas into
fully-fledged stories that will be enjoyable to write and entertaining
for the reader. Furthermore, you'll be able
to continually replenish the ideas in your
journal so that you are never short of
something to write.
3. Settings and Situations: Some of my best and most
profitable story ideas have come from real-life
settings and situations. At various times,
I've found myself in situations that I've found intensely interesting
and stimulating. I've almost always being
able to use those settings as the inspiration for
successful short stories. For example. Some years ago, my wife Wendy and I took a camping trip to the remote
island gear in Scotland, Ireland, there's a very
small ruined church, I think it's called the ruined church of
kill chapter one. And the church has a graveyard which is overrun and unkempt. And at that time of year, I think it was late summer. There were many
blackberry bushes growing over the grave stones and the blackberries were
ripe and ready to eat. So the thought occurred
to me that it would be a rather macabre thing to
eat develops Blackberries. I can imagine that
the BlackBerry roots, we're going down below the ground into the
grave and reaching copes depth and maybe drawing up the nutrition from
the corpse below. Quite a creepy thought. So the thought occurred to
me like, what would happen? Evaluate those
haunted blackberries. Well, in the real-world, not much would happen. You'd eat and enjoy
some blackberries. Bring the fictional world. What might happen if you ate blackberries whose roots
reached down to a Kolb's. So you can see how
a story was born. I was in a real life situation
that I found emotionally, intellectually and
imaginatively stimulating. So all of that could
hardly fail to bear fruit, pun intended and provide me
with a great story idea. And it really was a good idea. I solve that story three times to new standard
magazines in the UK, Australia, and South Africa. I should emphasize
here that the setting provided only the starting
point of the story. Having settled on the setting, I still have a lot of
work to do on plot, characterization,
theme, and so on. But as I gained
experience as a writer, I found that I could always do a competent and professional job on those kinds of things. Provided I had a great
idea to begin with. Whenever I got a great idea, I felt confident
of making a sale. Or two or three. Here's another example. Again, some years ago, my wife Wendy and
I went traveling this time to the Lake District, which is an area of outstanding
natural beauty in the UK. In England, we were
going to spend the weekend with some friends in a remote call the cottage
to celebrate the New Year. The journey though was
pretty stimulating. I was driving with Wendy
by my side through a very remote area
and the darkness had descended and Snow had begun to fall so that the
trees and the roadside and the fields were beginning to
be covered with a layer of white and also quite a heavy
fog and began to descend. So as I drove, I
began to feel uneasy, irrationally so,
but nonetheless, uneasy, almost like, oh, something bad could happen. Obviously, I've watched
too many horror films. But being a writer, I decided to explore that
feeling of unease and thought, well, what could happen now? That would turn this
ordinary day into their day of which
horror stories are made. And for various reasons, the idea that really stuck in my head was that
we could be driving along and then just save that child
standing in the roadway and we might stop to help this poor child lost in
the fog and the snow. That child would turn out to be something in human and horrific. Once again, some
stimulating surroundings led naturally and easily
to a compelling story. And this is another
one that sold three times in three
different countries. So what's the lesson here? Well, whenever you find yourself in an intensely interesting
and stimulating setting, your imagination is already primed to generate
a great story. Chances are that a
setting that phi is your imagination is capable of firing your reader's
imagination to. Now this might be a good
place for you to pause while and think about
your class project. Have you ever found yourself
in a situation or setting but really sturdy or emulsions and stimulated
your own imagination. If so, make an entry
in your ideas journal. It only needs to be brief. For example, ruined church if killed chat and on the
island of gear and Scotland, blackberries growing of graves. And every thought. What might happen if you
ate haunted blackberries? If you can't bring
anything suitable to your recollection right now, then remember this
lesson next time you're somewhere that stimulate your
emotions and imagination. Make a note in your
ideas journal.
4. Incidents and Experiences: In the previous lesson, we looked at how settings
and situations can be sources of inspiration
for story ideas. In this lesson, we'll look at
another excellent source of inspiration, incidents,
and experiences. Every day of our lives, we move constantly from
one more or less ordinary, humdrum experience to another. But occasionally we experienced something more interesting
and arresting, something that really
commands our attention. These incidents and
experiences can often form the basis for
a compelling short story. For example, I was once traveling on a train
somewhere in the UK. And I saw a young couple who refused to give
up their seats to an older couple who
purchased reserved tickets for those seats on
this crowded tray. And clearly this wasn't an event of world
shattering significance. It really stirred
up my emotions. I was really angry and
outraged at what I'd seen. I felt really sorry for the
middle-age couple who'd been humiliated and deprived
of their rights. Now, I always take it as a
given that whatever commands our attention and stimulate
our own emotions is capable. Given skillful
treatment of commanding our reader's attention and
stimulating their emotions to. However, let me emphasize
once again that this incident only provided
me with the germ of an idea. I still had lots of work to do on plot,
characterization, theme, and so on before I could
write an engaging story. But having gotten
hold of a great idea, this conflict that arises and when somebody refuses
to give up a seat, I knew that using my
experience and craftsmanship, I could eventually produce
something worthwhile. And indeed, this
was another story. And in fact, it was a romance
that I managed to sell three times to new standard magazines
in different countries. Here's another example. At one time my wife
and I lived in Vietnam in whole team in
city for a number of years. And while we were there, we traveled quite extensively around Southeast
Asia in countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia. And at that time, I went to sleep one
night and I had a really terrifying
dream which was clearly inspired or had its roots in my travels
in that region. I dreamt that I was
walking through the countryside in somewhere
like Laos, Cambodia. And at the side of
the road there was some kind of stone shrine. And there was a incense burning on the shrine
and smoke rising up. As I drew near to
pass this shrine. The smoke from the
incense started to kind of world and form these fantastical
shapes and eventually formed the shape of
a large serpent, Micah, cobra, ready to strike. It was a really
disturbing dream. And I woke up with my heart beating fast and this supernatural dread upon me. Of course, a dream that's self stimulating and exciting and terrifying is bound to provide the inspiration
for a good short story. And indeed, it provided
the inspiration for a story of mine called
hawks very Cottage, which I sold, I think twice,
to different magazines. And in fact, I
could give you lots more examples of
real-life experiences and incidents that provided me
with great story ideas. For example, I remember I
used to go camping a lot with my wife and I sometimes
on a fine night, I would take a mat outside and lie in the field looking up at the
stars during night. And one night, my wife left the 10th to go to the toilet and
almost fell over me. And this provided the
inspiration for a story. I wrote a romance
called Seeing stars. Another example. I remember when my
mom died for awhile, My dad used to listen to her old messages on
his answer file, which was very moving, slightly disturbing thing to do. And that led to a story of mine called haunted
answer phone, which again was quite
a successful story and sold a number of times. So let's recap. Any incident or experienced
that grabs your attention, captures your interest and
stimulates your emotions as the potential to provide
you with a great story idea. Because whatever grabs your
attention also has the potential to grab your
reader's attention to. So now's a good time to pause and think about
your class project. What incidents in
your life could be used as the starting
point for a short story. Choose one of them and jot it
down in your ideas journal. Keep it nice and brief. For example, dreamed about passing the roadside
altar in Vietnam. Smoke rose from the burning
incense and slowly formed itself into the figure of a
snake, woke up terrified. What might've happened next?
5. Other People's Stories: Thus far, we've examined two great sources of
inspiration for story ideas. First, settings and situations, and second, incidents
and experiences. Next, we'll look at another
great source of inspiration. Other people's stories. I've often taken experience
for my own stories from things I've read in
other people's stories. For example, I once
decided to have a stab at writing some
gentle crime fiction. But this is a genre in
which it's vital to have clever and
intriguing plot ideas. And for a long time, I just couldn't come
up with anything. So two, prime my creative pump, I set about reading some classic detection
fiction, detective fiction. One of the stories I really
enjoyed was a story by GK Chesterton called
the Blue Cross. And this is the first
Chesterton stories that feature the amateur sleuth and Catholic priest
Father Brown. It's a real fun story
because in the story, Father Brown behaves in
a very strange manner, especially for a
Catholic priest. He's in a restaurant and
throw soup at the wall. He knocks over a barrel of fruit or the fruit
vendors stole. He smashes a window. Very strange behavior. But we learn at the end of
the story that there is in factor method in his madness is actually kinda locked in a conflict with a
famous French villain. Tam. And Father Brown is behaving this manner
because he knows that, although intellectually
he's a match for Valentine, he's not a match physically. So he wants to elicit the
aid and protection of a French police detective who was also involved
in the story. And so he, he behaves in
this bizarre way in order to attract the attention of
the French detective. I really liked this story, and so I used it for a story of mine which has a similar plot. It's called Mavis misbehaves. This story features an
elderly lady called Mavis and a guy who's dressed
in a police uniform, but isn't actually a policeman. And Mavis uses the
Father Brown technique, behaving in ever more empty slot in a evermore
anti-social manner. So that she can prove
to her own satisfaction that this guy isn't
really a policeman, as shown by the fact that he really does not want
them to get involved. However badly made
ME this misbehaves. So this was a fun story to write and the story to solve twice, once in South Africa
and wants in the UK. Here's another example. I once took a
holiday in Thailand, and while I enjoyed
some holiday reading, it was a book of
short stories by John Mortimer based on his classic TV series
rumbled of the bailee. The main character
Horace Ron Paul is an elderly London
barrister who's scale at defending clients from the London criminal
classes is legendary. Now there's a lot of humor
in Ron Paul stories, which is one of the
reasons people, including myself,
love them so much. And one aspect of this humor
is the relationship between Ron Paul and his wife who irritate one
another constantly. But the thought occurred
to me that even though they just irritate
each other now, there must have been a
time when they enjoyed a more passionate relationship. And I tried to imagine
what it would have been like when
they were in love. Quite difficult to imagine when, you know, the older versions
of those characters. Anyway, this led me to, gave me the inspiration
for a story of mine called jealous valentine. This story involves a
married woman rousing code, good-hearted but
inattentive husbands jealousy with the aid of a
passionate Valentine's card. But it turns out that this very passionate
valentine card doesn't come from a rival
as the husband thought, but was actually written by himself, a longtime previously. So that was another
fun story to write. And the idea here is that
as a short story writer, you should be constantly appropriating
interesting ideas from the things that you read. This is common
practice in the arts, artists to constantly drawing inspiration from one another. In an interview, Paul
McCartney, the x beetle, was once asked if
the Beatles ever took inspiration from what
other groups were doing. And he said, Oh, yeah, we were the biggest
neck is in town. Plagiarism, extraordinary. Knickers is Liverpool slang
for thieves, Steelers. Paul and John and
George took a lot of inspiration from other
people's songs and music. And of course, you
can do so too. I could give a lot more
examples of story ideas that I've appropriated from
other sources, a lot more. But for my final example, I'd like to give an example
of how the inspiration and appropriation might have
worked the other way around. I once wrote a story
entitled danse macabre. It's quite a complex plot, but essentially it involves a young woman who has a premonition of her
husband's death. This is very distressing
because She's had similar premonitions
in the past, which of all proved
to be accurate. So the story revolves around this young woman
doing everything she can to prevent the
death of her husband. But in a very typical
science fiction type twist, it turns out that
the very action she takes in order to
prevent the death of her husband are the
very actions which lead to the death
of her husband. Anyway, it was a
fun story to write, an intellectually
quite challenging. But a number of years later, I happened to watch
a movie called premonition starring
Sandra Bullock. And I was shocked and amazed
to discover some very, very strong similarities between the plot of my story and
the plot of this movie. Was this coincidence? Or did someone pay
me the complement of appropriating my plot idea? If so, I wish they'd also
pay me the complement of sharing some of the profits
of the movie with me too. Before finishing this lesson, I'd like to repeat
something that I think is very important
to keep in mind. When you're a short
story writer. Whenever you come
across anything that captivates your attention, whether it's a setting or situation in which
you find yourself, or an incident or experience
that you encounter, or an element of a story
that you enjoy reading, you should make a note of
it because things that grab your attention are also likely to grab your
reader's attention. So at this point, once again, I encourage you to continue working on your class project. See if you can appropriate any elements from your
personal reading or viewing and transform them
into ideas for your writing. If anything, particularly
God springs to mind, make a note of it in your
ideas journal. For example. Gk Chesterton,
Father Brown story, the Blue Cross has the
celebrated detective behaving outrageously in order to attract the attention
of the police. How about a story in which the main character behaves
increasingly badly in order to prove that a guy in a police uniform is actually
a fake and a criminal.
6. Resonant Themes: So far, we've identified three
sources of inspiration for short story writers want
settings and situations, to incidents and experiences than three other
people's stories. Last but not least, I'd like to talk about
how beginning with a resonant theme is a great way to get your
creative juices flowing. And a powerful means of getting
your readers engaged with your story's theme is one of the vital elements that go together to make a
good short story. Other elements include plot, character, setting and conflict. And in fact, I'll be
discussing all of these elements in detail
in future courses. So please look out for those. But for now, let me just explain that the theme is
the central message, the underlining meaning or
the moral of the story. And that theme is vitally important because
it's the part of a story that can
really connect with readers on an emotional, intellectual, ethical,
or philosophical level. Resonant theme can really make your readers buy
into your story. I'll illustrate this
concept further with an example from one
of my own stories. Some years ago I was
a regular contributor of fiction to the
popular UK magazine, take a break and to its
spin off publication, take a brakes fiction feast. I really enjoyed
writing stories for those magazines
because they have enormous circulation and because the stories were always beautifully illustrated
and presented. And last but not least, because they paid the
contributors really well. Anyway, one day is the end
of the year approached, I received an email from taker breaks editor
asking if I had any ideas for a short
story that would fit well into the upcoming
New Year edition. Of course, I immediately started racking my
brain for an idea. And it occurred to me that sometimes older people can
view the passing years with a tinge of
sadness feeling that perhaps the best years of
their lives or behind them. So I constructed a new year
story around the theme, the message, the hidden
meaning, the moral. That just because
you're getting older, it doesn't necessarily mean that your best days
are behind you. I immediately got to
work writing the story and I found it an immensely
moving experience. This convinced me that I
had a winner on my hands. Remember, whatever has the
power to stir your emotions, most likely has the power to stir your reader's emotions to. My instincts were right. The editor snapped up
the story immediately and it remains one of
my favorite stories. Sentimental and a
bit cheesy perhaps, but genuinely moving, especially for those of us who are not quite so youngest we once were. So to recap, this story
began with a topic, New Year suggested
by the editor. I identified a powerful theme. Life can remain
fulfilling as you age. And this led to the crafting of a great and profitable story. Here are some more examples. Some years ago I was quite
interested in reading about Buddhism and I was
very interested in, although rather skeptical
about the concept of karma, were the actions that
you take in this life have repercussions
in your future life or even future lives. So I coupled this
notion with my love of stories where people's lives connect in complex
interconnected ways. This inspired a story of
mine called one good Turn, in which somebody
does a good turn, which leads to the person for whom they did the good Turn, doing a good turn
for somebody else. And you get this whole
chain of God turns, which turns out to be a circle. And the person who
began the story is the final recipient of
a good deed themselves. So that was a nice story with
a pleasant little moral. Another example. At one time, I lived for a couple
of years in Edinburgh. And I used to go and watch a lot of improv comedy while I lived. And this gave me the idea of putting as much humor and there's many jokes as
possible into a story. So I eventually
wrote a story about a young woman who's
looking for romance, but her perspective
boyfriends always put off by her rather wicked
sense of humor. Her. She just can't resist
making little one line, put downs or all in form, but this is rather intimidating for her
potential boyfriends. That led to this
story, improv love, which was published in
take a break magazine. And it was a lot
of fun to write. So we had this theme of karma in one story and then this
idea that humor is a good thing to
use as much humor as possible form the basis
of the second story. Okay, so now let's return once
more to the class project. What kind of themes might you explore in your short stories? Think about aspects of life that you think are important
bits of thought, wisdom you've picked
up over the years are aspects of psychology or philosophy that you believe a powerful life lessons
that you've learned, perhaps the hard way, if anything particularly good, springs to mind, jot it down in your ideas journal. Even better. Consider sharing, get along with other ideas in the
class project gallery.
7. Recap: Congratulations, You've
reached the end of the course. Let's recap. During the course,
we've explored for great sources of
inspiration that have together provided me with dozens of ideas for
successful stories. First, situations and settings. Second, incidents
and experiences. Third, of a people's
stories and forth. Resonant themes. As I said at the very beginning, we've taken an apprentice, an apprenticeship
approach to our topic. So you've heard a lot about how I got the inspiration
for my stories. You might be
interested in seeing one or two finished versions of the stories I've discussed. So check out the
course resources. I'll choose one or two
stories and put them there. If you enjoyed this
course, stay tuned. I'll be adding new courses, dealing with all
the major elements or short story writing. But for now, the
important thing is your ideas and your stories. So make sure you complete the class project and share
it in the project gallery. Of course, if you come up with an absolute belter of an idea, one that's got hit Hollywood
movie written all over it. You might want to keep
that one to yourself.
Gary Hayden
