The Observation Deck - A tool kit for writers
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0811814815/qid=1093562238/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-3706032-5462504?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
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The Observation Deck contains a deck of cards with provocative phrases to generate ideas and give the writer suggestions where to look for ideas. It also comes with a small booklet containing great advice, more suggestions on what to do when you are blocked up and what other professional writers (fiction and non-fiction) do when they are stuck.
Shuffle the cards and pull out one randomly or go through one at a time. Use the book and refer to relevant entry.
For example, if the card says Take A Walk. You can do what the card says and take a nice walk outside to see if you can find any ideas out there. Or you could take a walk through your character's world and try to see what he sees. Or if a card says Become the Other, you would try to put yourself in another persons shoes or in the character opposite of your main character. Or you could go radical, try to think like someone else and look at a situation.
There are 50 cards in the deck.
It is a really great tool and I've been using it myself on days when I'm really dry. It does help when you don't know where to look for ideas or you're bored with your own writing routein. (However, note that the feeling that you WANT to write, must come from yourself.) It's a great tool for both novice and expert writers and anyone in between.
The Observation Deck is quite old. I bought this a few years ago. A check reveals that this thing was published in 1988. You can still get it over the internet (check link below).
Shuffle the cards and pull out one randomly or go through one at a time. Use the book and refer to relevant entry.
For example, if the card says Take A Walk. You can do what the card says and take a nice walk outside to see if you can find any ideas out there. Or you could take a walk through your character's world and try to see what he sees. Or if a card says Become the Other, you would try to put yourself in another persons shoes or in the character opposite of your main character. Or you could go radical, try to think like someone else and look at a situation.
There are 50 cards in the deck.
It is a really great tool and I've been using it myself on days when I'm really dry. It does help when you don't know where to look for ideas or you're bored with your own writing routein. (However, note that the feeling that you WANT to write, must come from yourself.) It's a great tool for both novice and expert writers and anyone in between.
The Observation Deck is quite old. I bought this a few years ago. A check reveals that this thing was published in 1988. You can still get it over the internet (check link below).