Ideas for Fiction

Time to highlight one of my new favorite sources. It is a blog called Start Your Novel.

Twice a week, I post one or two small writing prompts, 50 words or less. Let’s call that a story-seed. The rest is up to you.
Take my ideas and run away with them. Go wild. They are freely given. This is an adventure in open-source storytelling.

I know I called the website “Start Your Novel,” but you can use my snippets for anything you please — short stories, novellas, RPG settings, comics, anything. Copyright is hereby waived. If somehow you make millions off an idea you got from me, good for you. Credit would be appreciated. That’s it.

Here is a snippet from his blog as well as the brief section I added

The Times and Trials of Remorse Brown
Who in their right mind would name a daughter Remorse? Although that wasn’t so bad; her big brother was called Regret, which is a sorry name for a man.

The old thief espied their shack from afar, and counted his blessings.

There was a reason why he had lived to be an old thief who walked free of fetters and shackles and not one who lived in chains.

He never let ego get in the way of doing a proper job. Too many other men had made the mistake of trying to leave a signature behind and had paid the price for it.

Ego and the movie industry were responsible for that. Ego made you want to to show how smart you were and movies made you think that it would turn you into some kind of icon.

For a moment he paused to wipe his brow and considered the best way to approach the shack. A smart man didn’t get lost pondering why someone would name their children Regret and Remorse, at least not from 100 yards a way.

That sort of wool gathering was best done at home in front of a warm fire and with your favorite drink in hand.

What say you? Should I continue this?

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18 Comments

  1. StartYourNovel May 2, 2011 at 4:37 am

    Thank you, Jack. I’m flattered.

    P.S.: I’ll look into configuring a Disqus installation for SYN.

  2. Anonymous May 2, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    Thank you, Jack. I’m flattered.

    P.S.: I’ll look into configuring a Disqus installation for SYN.

  3. Leon Noone May 2, 2011 at 12:48 am

    G’Day John,
    I went over and signed up for “Start Your Novel” I have no intention os starting a novel. But I’m always looking for ideas. I’ve been listening to Billie Holiday since i was a kid. I was so delighted to find her there that I reckoned it deserved a comment

    I put together all this profound stuff about Billie and singing and writing and avoiding drugs and bad guys. I tried to send it.

    Profile options, passwords and what I call “comment barriers” abounded. I agree with Marcus Sheridan at Sales Lion. He says to make leaving a comment so easy that your grandmother can do it even though she can’t use a computer. I gave up.

    But I wanted to let you you know that I enjoyed the video. Pity that Roy’s musical taste sometimes evaporated. But everyone else was great, especially Vic and Gerry. Did you know that, oddly enough, Frank Trambauer was one of Lester’s most admired players.

    Now that I’ve bored everyone half to death, I’ll shutup.

    Best wishes
    Leon

    • The JackB May 2, 2011 at 7:49 am

      Marcus is right about trying to make it easy to comment. Too many hoops chase people away. I can’t speak for Start Your Novel but here I can tell you that I installed DISQUS because it has improved the commenting structure.

      Billie Holiday has long been one of my favorites- such an interesting and soulful voice.

    • Anonymous May 2, 2011 at 12:36 pm

      Hi, Leon, I’m sorry you had a hard time trying to post a comment on my blog.

      I figured Blogger was easy enough — you can even comment anonymously — so I’m not sure what kind of hurdles you experienced.

      If you were so kind as to clarify, I’d be glad to help you out.

  4. Leon Noone May 1, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    G’Day John,
    I went over and signed up for “Start Your Novel” I have no intention os starting a novel. But I’m always looking for ideas. I’ve been listening to Billie Holiday since i was a kid. I was so delighted to find her there that I reckoned it deserved a comment

    I put together all this profound stuff about Billie and singing and writing and avoiding drugs and bad guys. I tried to send it.

    Profile options, passwords and what I call “comment barriers” abounded. I agree with Marcus Sheridan at Sales Lion. He says to make leaving a comment so easy that your grandmother can do it even though she can’t use a computer. I gave up.

    But I wanted to let you you know that I enjoyed the video. Pity that Roy’s musical taste sometimes evaporated. But everyone else was great, especially Vic and Gerry. Did you know that, oddly enough, Frank Trambauer was one of Lester’s most admired players.

    Now that I’ve bored everyone half to death, I’ll shutup.

    Best wishes
    Leon

    • The JackB May 1, 2011 at 11:49 pm

      Marcus is right about trying to make it easy to comment. Too many hoops chase people away. I can’t speak for Start Your Novel but here I can tell you that I installed DISQUS because it has improved the commenting structure.

      Billie Holiday has long been one of my favorites- such an interesting and soulful voice.

    • StartYourNovel May 2, 2011 at 4:36 am

      Hi, Leon, I’m sorry you had a hard time trying to post a comment on my blog.

      I figured Blogger was easy enough — you can even comment anonymously — so I’m not sure what kind of hurdles you experienced.

      If you were so kind as to clarify, I’d be glad to help you out.

  5. The Rebbetzin's Husband May 1, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    That does sound like a great blog. I’m in.

  6. The Rebbetzin's Husband May 1, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    That does sound like a great blog. I’m in.

  7. Varunner7 May 1, 2011 at 9:16 am

    Oh, very creative with the names. Keep going!

  8. Varunner7 May 1, 2011 at 5:16 pm

    Oh, very creative with the names. Keep going!

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