Seashells to Story Pages – Make Summertime Writing Time. Summer is collecting season. We collect sea shells at the seashore. We collect bargains at yard sales. We collect flowers in golden fields.

We also Collect Experiences. Each summer experience has a story at its center. Collect summer experiences. Collect Your Summer Stories.

Summer Up Your Imagination. Try this Creative Writing Inspiration. Describe a perfect summer day – sunrise to sunset. Gift your current story hero with this perfect day. She will love you for it.

Brainstorm Ways to Turn her Very Right Day Very Wrong. Struggling heroes make your readers worry about what will happen in your story. Strong storytelling is all about trouble and struggle. Make your hero struggle.

Embrace Your Sultry Summer Side. Summer Storytelling Ideas languish all around you. Sharpen your awareness. Keep Yourself Creative. Keep your stories steamy. Here is a Sultry Summer Creative Writing Exercise.

A Slow, Deep River Slides toward Roaring Rapids. Wild weather threatens. A treacherous storm approaches. Our pulses quicken. We hear the thunder crash. We watch lightning split the darkened sky. Stong storytelling is all about danger.

This Tumult is an Unwelcome Surprise for Your Hero. Her sunny summer mood tangles into dread as the wind thrashes. Her day is drenched and drowned by the downpour and whipped into frenzy by powerful gusts. Like Sally Field in Places in the Heart.

Suddenly Your Hero is in Real Peril. To make matters worse her enemy appears. They clash in their own stormy confrontation. Your hero must save herself. Write a Startling Summer Scene about this confrontation.

Supersize Your  Summer Story Energy. Be resourceful. Turn up the temperature. Then turn it up some more. Give everything a bolder boost. Strong storytelling is all about plunging your hero into hot water.

Her Life Drama is Intensified by Danger. Whatever happens in your hero’s life vaults her threat voltage to maximum amps. What specific events and shocks set her summer simmer blazing?  Seashells to Story Pages – Make Summertime Writing Time.

Immerse Yourself in Summer Sensations. The sights. The sounds. The scents. This is Writer’s Inspiration Season. Inspire yourself. Splurge your senses. Bring your hero’s most vital self to its most heightened life. Like Scarlett in Gone with the Wind.

Transport Your Hero to a Secret Summer Spot. Something magical happens there. Or something horrible happens there. Kindle your Storytelling Imagination. The flames of story heat mount higher. Write what their glow illuminates for you.

Story Up Some Simple Summer Pleasures. An unexpected event occurs at a summer fair or festival or on what your hero thought would be a quiet day. Her heroic quest in your story is impeded by this event – drastically so.

Maybe Your Hero is Walking along a Deserted Shoreline. She finds a mysterious message in a bottle. What does it say? What does it compel her to do? What peril does it propel her into? You are Collecting Summer Experiences. Collect hers.

Celebrate Your Summer Memories. Summon forth Summer Journal Ideas from your personal past. Luxuriate in Summer Nostalgia Writing. Resurrect a summer friendship that changed your life. How did it begin? Where did it lead?

Lend Your Summer Friendship Memory to Your Story’s Hero. Let it change her life like it changed yours. Or – revisit the most unforgettable thing that ever happened to you in summertime. Visit it upon your hero. She will not forget it either.

Summertime is Company Time – Good Company. Who was your happy summer company? The person you would you most like to spend your summer with?

Summertime is Company Time – Bad Company. What was the worst summer encounter you ever endured? Why specifically was it so terrible? Introduce these good and bad visitors to each other.

Your Favorite Summer Friend Becomes Your Story Hero. She meets your terrible summer encounter person. Make this an electrified clash of characters. Capture their powered-up collision in an intense  scene.

Suss Out Some Summer Secrets. Strangers possess strange secrets. Sit yourself down in an outdoor café. Set yourself in nosey parker mode. Ask yourself whom among these people is hiding a sinister secret. What is that secret? What makes it sinister?

Send Your Wicked Imagination Soaring. Observe what happens and Record it in your Writer’s Journal. It’s okay for writers to eavesdrop. You are not being rude. You are Studying People for Your Stories. This is Your Writing Work.

Sizzle Up a Summer Romance. You are still in a public place. Still Observing and Recording. Ask yourself whom among all of this humanity would your story hero fall in love with. Imagine them as summer lovers.

Make Sparks Fly Between Them. Why are they drawn to each other? What could drive them apart? How will they reunite – or not? Summer Romance Writing. Satisfy yourself superbly. You will love writing about love.

Make Summer Writing Your Storytelling Sunshine Time. Some think of summer as a lazy interlude. But you have done good work. Your imagination has flown and flourished. You have set your story pages on fire with summer heat.

Your Writer’s Journal is Full and Flush. Lots of strong material for future storytelling. You have gathered Summer Story Starters. You have added to your Summer Collection of Story Ideas. You have fed Your Writer Self a fine picnic.

Meanwhile Enjoy the Season. Find a yard sale. Seek out the sea shore. Pick yourself some posies. Relax on a lakeside evening. But never neglect your Storyteller’s Journey. Seashells to Story Pages – Make Summertime Writing Time.

FYI – More Summer Writing Prompts and Exercises.

Imagine a summer tradition for your hero’s fictional family. An annual gathering event. How does it bring them closer together? How does it drive them apart?Your hero is spending the summer in an unfamiliar place. How does the change affect her? What happens to her there? How does she react to those events?A summer road trip goes terribly wrong, for your hero and others. What challenges do these travelers face? How do they overcome these challenges – or not?Your hero has a summer job or assignment that she hates. What happens? What does she learn from this experience? How does this experience change her life in your story?A summer heat wave leads to unexpected adventures for your heroine. What are they? How do they affect her? How do they affect your story?It is a hot, humid summer night, and your hero cannot sleep. When she gets up to seek some relief, something dramatic happens. Tell the story of that happening.Your heroine jumps into cold water on a very hot day. When she does that, something startling happens. What is this startling occurrence? What happens to her after that?Your hero attends an elegant and special summer meal. What makes this meal so special? What food is served? Who is there? How does your hero interact with the other guests?Invent a legend or ghost story. Have your hero tell it on a stormy summer night. What happens after that? How does what happens relate to the story your hero told?Create a summer writing prompt or exercise of your own. Send it to me in the Comments section following this post. I cannot wait to read it, write it, share it.

You possess storytelling magic. Keep on writing whatever may occur.  Alice Orr. http://www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Former Editor and Literary Agent. Author of 15 novels, 2 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. Follow Alice’s Joy Writing blog at http://www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Alice’s Summer Novel. A Year of Summer Shadows. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 2. Experience Joy Reading. Available HERE.

Praise for A Year of Summer Shadows. “A must-read for lovers of romantic suspense.”
“Alice keeps you wanting to read faster, then when you finish the last page, you want more.” “Another fast-paced Alice Orr thriller involving murder, family secrets, friendships and plot twists against the backdrop of a slow-building yet intense love story.” “Orr’s characters come alive on the page.” “A Year of Summer Shadows is of my favorite books.”

Alice’s Suspense Novel Series. Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. Five intense stories of love and death and intrigue. Available HERE.

Praise for Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series. “Romance and suspense at its best.” “I highly recommend this page-turner series.” “Twists and turns, strong characters, suspense and passionate love.” “The writing is exquisite.”

Ask Alice Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know? About your writer experience. About telling your stories. Ask your question as a comment following this post.

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