
How to use journeys as inspiration for writing short stories
THERE’S ALWAYS A STORY IN A JOURNEY! Are you getting on a bus or a train today? Are you walking somewhere? There’s always a story in a journey! It might be inspiration for characters or inspiration for a plot or inspiration for the setting! Today, for example, I’ve already made three journeys and it’s not even 11 am! My first journey was before the sun rose. I got on my bike and went down to the sea for a swim. As I cycled down the high street, I saw a man washing windows. It made me wonder what kind of things he spotted. Supposing he saw somebody had fallen over who needed help? That could be a story – or maybe a twist in a plot. What if that person had been unkind to him in the past or refused to pay the window cleaning bill? Would he still help him? I hope so… My second journey was in the car to the local train station, which is about 40 minutes away. There was a traffic jam en route. This made me wonder how a delay on a journey could affect a character’s life. Perhaps my heroine might not get to her appointment on time because of the traffic jam. But what if her interviewer is stuck in the same traffic jam? There could be a story there!