Turning Ideas into Stories, part III, Contests

This is the third and final part of my article on techniques to turn your ideas into stories. These ideas work equally well for professional writers and writers in the classroom.


Add dialog to give life to the character. Dialog should sound real, not be real. When people talk, our words usually flow freely out of our mouths and the conversation can be boring reading. We often add uh and um and get sidetracked in our thoughts. Dialog should stay focused.

Develop a plot outline based on your id...