This month’s working lunch series only has three parts, but they’re a ton of fun! We’re going to spend the rest of April working on creating Idea Machine Notebooks.
Let’s start with what exactly we’re talking about here. An Idea Machine Notebook is a set of three extensive lists. One of characters, one of settings, and one of situations. These are the core elements of fiction stories.
Something happens to someone, somewhere.
We’re going to create a notebook that will be a living document that you can add to through your career as a writer.
First things first: choose a notebook. It can be anything really. A nice notebook you’ve been holding on to. A composition book you bought for fifty cents during last year’s back-to-school sales. Even a Google Doc, if you want your notebook to be digital.
This week, we’re focusing on characters.
Find some time to sit down and brain dump every character you’ve had living in your head down on paper in your notebook. This can be specific characters that you’ve started to develop. It can also be character types.
Here is part of my own list:
A 12-year-old girl with a twin she doesn’t know about.
A large group of siblings.
Eccentric old women.
A young man who is a savant-gardener.
A man with a secret.
As you can see–not too much detail. Just enough to spark your imagination.
I’m going to give you a big challenge this week. I want you to try to get to 100 characters in your notebook.
I know. I know. It’s a lot. But the thing is, you need to list a lot to get beyond the obvious to the real depths of your creativity. I’m going to give you some prompts now. If you come up with 10 characters for each, you’ll have your 100!
Think about your favorite books from childhood. What kind of characters were your favorites?
Think about your top ten favorite novels of all time. Same deal, list the types of characters there.
Think about your favorite movies and television shows. What kind of characters populate them?
Think about the people in your life and the personality types represented there.
Think about strangers you’ve come across. Just people watch in your memory. Who do you find there?
Who would you want with you if you were shipwrecked?
Who would you invite to your wedding?
Think about ensemble casts–what kinds of characters make them up?
Think about people who drive you crazy.
Think about people who attract you.
What you want is a varied and wide list of possible characters you can build stories around. Spend a few minutes every day on your list this week and you might surprise yourself with what you come up with.
Love,
Shaunta
Love the idea machine notebook!
Hi, I’m new to Substack. The link at the bottom leads to the March 26 live session. Am I supposed to navigate from there or is it the wrong link ?