Hello, it’s been a while (I’m sorry!) But my brain has been BURSTING with story ideas! Today, I wanted to consider the difference between a storyline and a plot.

ScreenCraft provide an excellent analysis (found here) which basically says that the STORY is the who, what and where. The PLOT is the how, when and the why.

Simple, right? Yeah… Nah….

As a teacher, I see this struggle daily. Seriously. Creative writing can be hard, yo!

To help my students come up with ideas, I created a ‘Story Starter’ resource of cards. These help to kickstart the brain’s creative process by allowing them to simply select, at random (or rifle through and purposefully choose) a character, conflict, and setting, with an option to add an object or theme for increased difficulty.

Essentially, this card resource has about twenty ideas in each category, with each one printed on a different coloured cardboard. So, in a random draw of three cards, one from each category, you might choose to craft a story about:

Character card reveals… a mermaid named Shellsea.

The setting card is… oh look! A quaint country town!

As for the conflict… Oh no! A ghost has stolen her most prized possession!

Optional object to integrate: A Grandfather clock that only chimes midnight.

Three or four cards. That’s it.

Simple.

By now some brain juices should be flowing. If not, let’s brainstorm to get some plot AND story going. Let’s delve in and flesh out this basic idea: How is Shellsea living in a country town, far from the ocean? The pool? A water tank? Is she bathtub bound? How did she get there? What is her treasured possession? What’s yours? Why might it be taken by someone? Who is the ghost? etc.) Who owns the clock? Whjere does it live? What is the importance of midnight?

I’ll brainstorm with my students and get to know Shellsea’s backstory, personality and world.

It’s a multimodal approach to creativity that I’ve found really help my students to simply get going with story writing. The physical choosing of the cards. The images for stimulus. The brainstorm. The verbal questioning to promote thinking. But I had to invent this myself.

So many of these card resources exist for Primary School aged students, featuring cute picture-book style images) but NOT for teenaged students with learning disabilities or disadvantages. Where are the broody vampires, the kid whose just stormed out of an argument with a parent, the moral dilemmas and emotional depth of a teenager’s experiences? I tried to draw on those things in my resource for my classes to use. Shellsea might end up with a terrible tattoo or a piercing their parent disapproves of, or has to struggle with the choice between staying at home to babysit, or finding a job to help the family.

“The trick,” I tell them, “is to write from experiences. Just tiny slivers of truth, then invent the rest.”

Everyone can write what they know, but it’s much harder to write what you don’t know. Get it out of your head, onto the page, then edit, change, reshape.

For a bit of fun, maybe try something like this yourself. It can be quite hilarious, and even the process of creating the different cards can entice numerous decent ideas from your brain. It’s fun, too ‘playing storytelling’ with my kids, who draw three cards then make up something on the spot. Hilarious! Recommend!

Let me know if you try this tactic, have any tips, or another fun way to start up those creative braincells!

Until next time,

Stay safe and find the magic in every day.