| Ideas for plots or stories can be found in unusual | | | | A. Population varies. Full-time residents range from |
| places such as newspaper articles, watching | | | | 400-500. Population with "leapers" hovers around |
| people in a doctor's office, or from a book of | | | | 10,000. |
| prompts. One such book is The Writer's Book of | | | | B. Activities: Permanent inhabitants make |
| Matches - 1001 prompts to ignite your fiction by | | | | temporary leapers comfortable and try to calm |
| the staff of fresh boiled peanuts, a literary journal. | | | | fears. |
| In an online writing conference (The Muse 2007 | | | | C. Main characters include Terry, a newcomer, |
| Online Writers Conference), Linda Barnett-Johnson | | | | and Dr. Ross, a permanent villager. |
| gave some examples and initiated some exercises | | | | D. Location: Who knows? |
| which helped develop ideas. A helpful hint is to | | | | Exercise 2: We were to write a hook for a story, |
| keep a small notebook to jot down ideas. | | | | one we were working on or one we make up. A |
| I participated in that conference and in Linda's | | | | hook grabs and keeps a reader's attention, and |
| exercises. I would like to share some ideas her | | | | one is required for good writing. |
| suggestions triggered in my mind and the results | | | | Since I had the outline for Exercise 1, I decided to |
| of the exercises. | | | | try a hook for that story idea. The result follows: |
| First some ideas for stories/plots, which I wrote | | | | Terry opened her eyes but closed them quickly |
| on my own after reading those given by Linda: | | | | when a sharp brightness blinded her. When she |
| 1. A SWAT team assaults a building where a | | | | sensed, through closed eyelids, the light fading, |
| multiple killer supposedly hides. What if the "tip" is | | | | she peeked. The azure sky above her filled her |
| a trap? | | | | vision, not a cloud to be seen. She rolled from her |
| 2. A man, after the death of his wife, decides to | | | | back and used shaky arms to push her tingling |
| clean the attic of the house where they lived for | | | | body upright. In the distance, a cluster of buildings |
| over fifty years. He discovers a small trunk in a | | | | broke the span of flat, empty plains. |
| far corner, under a pile of boxes. | | | | "Where am I?" She frowned at her uttered |
| 3. "How could you? How could you do ..." | | | | comment. Very original, Terry, she thought as |
| Exercise 1: We randomly opened a dictionary and, | | | | she tried to remember the immediate past, or for |
| and without looking, pointed to a word. We were | | | | that matter - any past. |
| told to list the word with Village behind it and do a | | | | Those two exercises provided me with the start |
| rough outline for a story. | | | | of my first science fiction story. I hope they will |
| I pointed to "leap"; therefore, my subject became | | | | help you, too. |
| Leap Village. My outline was as follows: | | | | |