Building A Story Idea Portfolio

Cultivating story ideas isn’t a mystery. The Writing Process starts with curiosity. What are you interested in? What stimulates your curiosity and drives you to explore a certain place or subject? The process runs like this: travel and explore, gather information, organize activities and notes, focus on a key aspect of place and people, select sense details, characters and anecdotes, write draft and revise for information flow.

Thinking process: Start the idea honing process by engaging with these questions: Why am I interested in writing on this topic? What focus will I develop? What audience is interested in this topic? Why would an audience care? Why am I the person to write this article? Who are the main characters in this place? What is it about this idea that generates passion for the writer and reader? What’s the point of my on-site research and what else needs to be experienced or investigated on this topic to accomplish my goals.

Action Item: Build your portfolio of story ideas – locations, topics, culture, history, environment, landscape, geography, people or personal ideas to write about. Start an online folder for online news articles or topics that intrigue you.