What Story Should I Tell?

Students are exposed to so many stories - via social media, streaming videos, cinema and (hopefully) reading. It can be overwhelming for them to think about creating an interesting story of their own. A common impulse is to try and make a story like the ones we’ve seen. We often overlook the stories that come from our experience - the stories that only we can tell.

When my film students turn up with pitches heavily featuring zombie, hitmen, vampires or action heroes, I send them away with twenty prompts for brainstorming.

Here they are:

20 ideas for looking at my own experiences

1.     Some place that I know, that most people don’t know as well as I do

2.     A fragment of someone’s story that I’ve never forgotten

3.     A walk I took today, and where my mind wandered

4.     The way that I remember this memory makes me unique

5.     Something I wish had happened a different way

6.     Something I know that other people might not

7.     Something that makes me happy

8.     Something that makes me sad

9.     A personal connection I have with a larger event

10.  Why my favorite song is my favorite song

11.  Someone I wish I hadn’t lost touch with and what that story is, or could be

12.   Why I left somewhere

13.  Why I stayed somewhere

14.  The road I grew up on and something that happened there

15.  Something I was punished for

16.  When I was in love

17.  Something unusual about my parents/grandparents’ stories

18.  When I won

19.  When I lost

20.  I was lost and…