Sherri Said:

Creative writing ideas..... "Did you bring it?"?

We Answered:

I've always found that the best way to be 'creative' when given tasks that include a certain number of required parts is to...

a) Consider how the requirements can be interpreted
b) The Pope In The Pool
c) WOW!
d) Emotions
e) Details

So in this case, think of one of your ideas, say it's two characters meeting and one of them is going to say 'did you bring it'.

Firstly, consider how 'did you bring it' can be interpreted. The first thought is probably 'did you being [the item] but in popular culture you can also have 'did you bring it' as a way of saying 'did you compete'. If you decide it is going to be an item being delivered, think about what that item is going to represent in your story.

'The Pope In The Pool' is from a brilliant book on screenwriting by an American called Blake Schneider and basically tells the writer to try and bury all exposition except what is necessary. i.e. If your two characters are meeting in a car park to exchange the object, don't spend half the page describing the city that the car park is in. When writing myself I sometimes find it easier to imagine I am making a film and only talk about exactly what would be seen on the screen.

Finally, what is your 'WOW!' moment. By definition, being creative is about taking a different look at a given situation. There are millions of terms for the 'WOW!" factor, but whether you call it the 'promise of the premise', the 'twist', the 'hook', 'thinking outside the box' or whatever, it comes down to what part of your story is going to make people sit up and take notice.

Finally, think about the emotions. Unlike a film, the written word can only portray what it describes, so if your character is sad, you have to say so. Don't forget that saying 'I'm sad' doesn't only have to be through the character saying 'I feel sad', it could be shown through their posture and movements, allusions to the weather or how they react to other people.

So, your basic scene is two characters meeting in a car park to exchange a photo of a girl.

a) The character receiving the photo is a hitman being given his target.
b) The character giving the photo is hiring a PI to find his missing daughter.
c) The character receiving the photo has paid handsomely for an illegal photo of a child.
d) The character receiving the photo is the girl's father, but is not allowed to see her but wanted to know she graduated.
e) The character receiving the photo is a journalist about to spill the beans about the president's illegitimate daughter.

Your list can go on forever.

Finally, think of the details. Again, consider a film. Almost everything you see on screen has been chosen and placed because it means something. Take the photo of the girl mentioned above. Your story is going to take a different meaning if the photo is of a pre-teen child in the nude than if it's a 20 year old graduating. Think about everything and if it doesn't mean anything, throw it out.

Good luck.