Write a Story With a Bit of String - Ideas Are Everywhere

When I first started writing seriously I trained myself with the following exercise; when the mood to write descended upon me I'd pick up any object that came to hand – a coin, a paper bag, a bit of string – and ask myself 'how did it get there?'

A bit of string, for instance, was once tied onto something but what? Perhaps it held something important together, perhaps it was dropped or discarded, perhaps someone still looks for it?

I let my mind drift over the object until an image came to mind that pleased me – the bit of string held the little fingers of two sweethearts together in a pact of eternal love! They dedicated their hearts to each other where... ah, on a wooden bench in the local park.

But who were they? It was their first love because... they were only 8 years old and so as they were too young to marry they invented this little ritual. But though their parents laughed at their cute declaration the children took it seriously and remained true to one another as they grew up.

Ok, so now we can have this young couple growing up together but why was the piece of string dropped? Was it by accident or was their childhood pact abandoned or... broken? Ok, so did one of them move away or fall in love with someone else or... maybe they died. Right, the boy died in... a car accident and the girl never forgave him for passing away. She's stubborn like that. In fact, when she heard the news she let the piece of string drop and... never loved anyone ever again. An old maid at 15.

Ok, so maybe not a bestselling novel but see how the characters and the mood of the story just popped out of the air with a little bit of string to call it in?

That's where ideas come from.