Topics for short stories to write about how to#
Topics for short stories to write about skin#

Record sounds if possible, such as the delighted squeals of children sledding, the crunch-crunch of people digging out their cars after snow and ice storms, the music of the calliope or merry-go-round at a carnival, the desperately pathetic cries of the mothers of calves who have been weaned and removed to another location.Take photos as a way to jog your memory.Capture the sights, sounds, smells, feel and tastes of any given day, so that you can recall what it was like.Of course you need not be limited to observations about weather. Some of these notebooks have pockets in the divider pages where you could store photos from each season, pressed leaves, bird feathers, etc. Create a label for each season or for certain months. Perhaps you discovered crocuses poking their heads through the snow in your garden.Ī multi-subject notebook with tabs would lend itself well to this naturalist’s journal. You might comment on the antics of a pair of squirrels chasing one another from tree to tree, across the telephone cable, up the side of a house, scrambling across the roof, etc. You might begin a naturalist’s journal, commenting on temperature, humidity, other weather phenomena, and your observations of flora and fauna.

Topics for short stories to write about how to#

With a physical journal, however, you’ll need to set up your system of how to organize the information. The advantage to a digital journal is that it’s searchable and sortable.

simple cloth-bound or paper-back journal.

What you decide on should fit with your personality and personal preferences. Now let’s talk about an actual “journal” to use for documenting your observations, reactions and feelings. – chopping wood, loading up the wood stove, shoveling the sidewalk, thawing snow/ice for barn or field animals to drink, etc.) If something happens only at a particular time of year, or as a direct result of a weather-related occurrence, WRITE IT DOWN! What Journal Will You Use? I recommend having a notepad always handy for those moments when you’re away from your writing area, like when you come inside from shoveling snow and you feel your cheeks begin to thaw and your eyeglasses fog up.ĭon’t neglect everyday situations unique to the season. Make similar lists for spring and summer, as well.

when you came inside, what did you smell? Hot chocolate to warm you? Chicken soup to soothe you? Do those smells take you back to another time and place?.

the sound of the wind: does it whistle or moan?.

the race to batten down the hatches when high winds are about to pummel your home.

navigating country roads (or freeways) in treacherous, drifting snow.

quintessential snow days where children are sledding and delighted to be out of school.

the water lapping at the stilts of your hut hotelĪnd so that you can write about winter wherever you are, regardless of the season, make note of activities like this and many more:.

Topics for short stories to write about skin#

the feel of tropical breezes caressing your skin.So when in Tahiti, while taking a break from writing about building a snowman, making snow angels and skiing in Vermont, be sure to record the sights and sounds unique to where you are: The key is to catalog the input that your five senses (and even your sixth sense) take in, WHILE YOU’RE IN THE MOMENT. And I would have missed a great slice of life to use in a short story or a novel. If I had not written about that late winter experience and the context of the incident, I might not remember the impact that bird’s song had on me. Why is this necessary? Well, if you don’t do this and you’re, say, in Tahiti trying to write about winter in Vermont (and I would be so jealous if you were!) I guarantee you’ll have difficulty making your readers shiver with cold and feel snowflakes kissing their cheeks unless you have previously recorded impressions from winter - that or you have an eidetic memory. Observe your responses to weather or weather-related incidents/activities, as well as the reactions and behavior of people around you. So regardless of what season you are in, it’s important for you as a writer to make note of the details and nuances of that time of year. They can inspire theme, setting, characters or a possible story situation.

Such details are the stuff of good fiction.

The landscape is changing from snowy white to soggy brown and in places yellow-green as the snow mountains that decorate parking lots and roads begin to melt. And in a sixth sense sort of way, there’s anticipation in the air, as well. Hopefully you’ve noticed that, as spring approaches, there’s a different aroma in the air. It’s an unmistakable sign that spring is not too far off.” It was startling, but quite welcome, considering that we have just come out of two weeks of double-digit sub-zero temperatures and more snow than normal. “A bird sang outside my window this morning.

I wrote the following in my writing journal in late winter: