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# 4.1.3 The notebook habit

Figure 4

Research might well be one of the uses you have for your notebook. Whether it’s research, observations, ideas, your reading or something else, get into the habit of writing something, however short, in your notebook every day.

## Activity 4.1 Researching ideas for stories

Looking back over your notes, either:

- Find three possible stories that you might be able to draw out of your notes (the ideas can be as sketchy as you like at this point) and research at least one element for each idea. Then develop your journal notes on these ideas, including this research and any relevant sensory details.

or:

- Find one possible story that you might be able to draw out of your notes (similarly, the idea can be as sketchy as you like at this point) and research at least three elements for this idea. Then develop your journal notes on this idea, including this research and any relevant sensory details.

If you don’t want to go with any of the ideas in your notebook, you can try using the Prompt Cloud PDF.

These ideas may be developed into stories, or they may not. You may not wish to follow them up now, but might suddenly be inspired by them in years to come, and use them as the basis for a story then. It doesn’t matter whether you ever use them. Keeping ideas ‘floating’ is what’s important.

◄Contents►Next: 4.2 What is plot?

OpenLearn - Start writing fiction: characters and stories
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