The Writer's Idea Thesaurus: An Interactive Guide for Developing Ideas for Novels and Short Stories

by Fred White

Endless ideas at your fingertips, and at the turn of a page...

Need an idea for a short story or novel? Look no further than The Writer's Idea Thesaurus. It's far more than a collection of simple writing prompts. You'll find a vast treasury of story ideas inside, organized by subject, theme, and situation categories, and listed alphabetically for easy reference.

Author and award-winning writing instructor Fred White shows you how to build out and customize these ideas to create unique plots that reflect your personal storytelling sensibilities, making The Writer's Idea Thesaurus an invaluable tool for generating creative ideas and vanquishing writer's block—for good.

Inside you'll find:

•2,000 unique and dynamic story ideas perfect for novels and short stories of any genre or writing style
•Twenty major idea categories, such as The Invasion of X, The Transformation of X into Y, Escape from X, The Curse of X, and more
•Multiple situations that further refine the major categories, such as The Creation of Artificial Life, The Descent Into Madness, Love in the Workplace, The Journey to a Forgotten Realm, and more
•Invaluable advice on how to customize each idea.

The Writer's Idea Thesaurus is an interactive story generator that opens the door to thousands of new story arcs and plotlines.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction, Google, Language

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2014

Reviews

[T.H. Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3-1/2 Stars. The concept behind The Writer's Idea Thesaurus intrigued me. I don't suffer from a lack of story ideas, but sometimes in fleshing them out, I need a little inspiration. It's definitely an interesting concept, but I found it a little overwhelming. I tried to consume it the way I do most books, by starting at the front and working my way to the back. It's really designed to allow you to jump around, so I gave that a try next. Ultimately I came to the conclusion it's really more of a reference book, just like your regular thesaurus. Once I figured that out, I realized it's got a lot of promise. Think of it as one of those flip books for kids with the three parts -- you flip the pages to put a cow's head on an ostrich body with kangaroo legs. Pick and choose from various concepts to put together your own unique story idea.

Bottom Line
The Writer's Idea Thesaurus lives up to its name as a unique reference guide to aid writers in developing story ideas.

[Carolee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for writing-ready ideas and as a jump starter for your own ideas.

[Sarah Brehm · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I haven't read every page of this reference book, I have browsed through it enough to go ahead and mark it as read. I marked the ideas that spoke to me, so when I run into writer's block I can flip through, find a premise I like quickly and start free writing until the block disappears.

[H.M. Gooden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference book. Exactly what it aims to be, it is best not to read from cover to cover but pick it up again and again when writing something new. If you try to read it cover to cover you will be underwhelmed, so read the preface and have fun!

[Alicia Zuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited to keep this book forever. The author must’ve had a blast writing this, because not only does it seem fun, but he was able to use all writer notebook material. He has stashed over the years. That must feel very rewarding. Amount of inspiration, and every time I open this book I come up with my own ideas for plot, twisting into his. The set up An organization of the Contents is impeccable and easy to follow. this categories in Starbucks categories make sense and I really enjoy this book that I will keep for fuel!

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will fully admit. There are some scenarios here that offer great jumping off points. But unfortunately there are a fair number that offer cliches and even some harmful stereotypes.