About The Ideas Factory
The Ideas Factory has been developed as a step-by-step planning tool for developing a story idea.
Simply follow instructions in the ‘Getting Started’ transcripts which guide you through the five planning stages to produce a story plan: Where, What, Who and Does it Work. The Introduction transcript introduces the story planning model you will be using.
To use The Ideas Factory we recommend you have a large sheet of paper and pen for making your plan – this will be your Ideas Store and a lined note book, or whatever you use for writing, for making more detailed notes about your ideas, this will be your Notepad. The transcripts will invite you to do different activities using both of these things.
At each stage you will first be asked to think of lots of ideas and note them down in your Ideas Store, then pick the ones that you will use in your story. Then you will be asked to think more carefully about your ideas and make detailed notes in your Notepad.
There are also features to help if you need inspiration or want to know more about this way of story planning:
- The Death in the Arctic Demo transcriptions demonstrate how Peter Arnott is planning a story using in the same way you are when using in the Ideas Factory.
- ‘Thinking like a Writer’ is an essay by Peter where you can read this in-depth discussion of his technique for planning creative writing, why he works in this way and the benefits it can bring to your writing.
