This week: EEK! It's a SPIDER! Edited by: Legerdemain  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
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EEK! It's a SPIDER!
Okay..it doesn't have eight legs. It might have six or twenty, there isn't a set definition for this organism. This is about brainstorming ideas. Sometimes it is impossible to work on whatever project you might be writing. You might be stuck on a character flaw, wrote yourself off a cliff or in my case, broke the character's nose in a cafeteria and feel a little lost. I know where I want the story to go but I'm feeling distracted by all those sandwiches in cellophane.
This is about brainstorming. Perhaps you want to start fresh or there might be a contest you want to enter, but ideas aren't gelling in your head. Try pulling out a few sheets of paper and surfing images. Put in a few key words, like the genre of the contest, or if your character is a redhead, type that in. Then start flipping through the images on Google and see what happens. Once you find something that feels intriguing (or scary if your filter is off)) stop and look at the image. Then write a main idea in the middle of your paper, draw a circle around it and then imagine "what happens next". For each idea, draw an arm off the main circle and write that idea in a new circle on that arm. If the idea blossoms, keep drawing arms and circles until your mind stops. Your drawing should end up looking like a spider with real big joints, and if they're like mine, kind of lop-sided and lumpy.
Nevermind. Keep thinking, keep brainstorming. Go through your images until you have a few sheets of paper filled out. Then, I like to wait a few days...or uhm, months and come back to those spiders. Hopefully you remember where you stashed them. Look behind the pile of recipes, that's where I found mine. If the idea is for a contest, you might want to get to it the next day. Then look at each spider and rate them for suitability to the contest. If it's just for a new story idea, go with what still interests you. Can you add more arms? Can you expand the ideas in the circles? Highlight the best ideas and start your story. I generally don't keep the inspiration image because I don't want to get locked on it, I want it to be merely the basis for my ideas. I find the best characters will stick and I know them pretty well.
Now it's time to start writing. If you're an outline person, start that and work your story into your plot points. If you're a wing-it kind of fellow, start typing and let the story unfold. In the end, I hope a wonderful story ends up in your portfolio. Write on!
This month's question: Give us your brainstorming tips!
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: Amraiel hated the sunset. She hated the way the sun painted the voluminous clouds that made up her palace a sea of pinks, oranges, and reds. How could humans think this was beautiful? She missed the purity of the fluffy white clouds. The bloodbath of colors before her only reminded her of what she truly was.
Excerpt: “Naught can be found, on the Earth nor in the Heavens” the gentle voice of her tutor reminded her, “that can hold a candle to the innate beauty and love within the blank canvas.” The memories wrapped around Elodie, enveloping her within the comforting blanket of her youth. Not for the first time, she found her gaze drifting from the taunting whiteness before her. Her slender fingers ran through the bristles adorning her brush as she gingerly adjusting her hair with the handle, feeling the wood disappear within the thick woods of her fiery curls.
Excerpt: Mark Johnson fiddled with his peculiar, twenty-first-century necktie and tried to relax as the maître d' dressed as a clown—Ronald McDonald, he believed—led him toward the rear of the exclusive retro restaurant. He scanned the tables until he spotted his ex-wife and son, then his steps faltered. Judy glanced up and offered a tight smile. The years had been kind to his childhood sweetheart from Kansas City High. She wore a blue cheongsam with her crimson hair swept up into a bun. As he neared, the floral scent of Chanel No. 22 teased his senses. She was reminding him of what he was missing, and it hurt.
Excerpt: The only thing that Daniel was worried about was Sierra’s cat Cheri. He had suffered from an intense fear of cats since he was very little. He hadn’t told Sierra about his fear. It made him feel ashamed. She had mentioned the cat on other dates, while they were getting to know each other. Sierra talked about the cat like it was her best friend. He planned to be brave and try to hide his fear.
Excerpt: If there's a day that the citizens of Peachwood will never forget, it has to be the day when they saw snow fall during the summer.
It all happened during a sunny day in the month of July. Many of the city's residents had gone to the beach to enjoy the sun and the sea. People were surfing, playing volleyball, making sand castles, tanning, and much more.
Excerpt: The Origins of Monster City can be traced back to the Expansion of America. Monsters fleeing from Hunters came to the New World, and would settle in remote areas. As America expanded, monsters were forced to flee. Eventually, they settled roughly a hundred miles north of what would eventually be called Las Vegas. Since it was Federal Government land, and undesired by humans, no one came to bother them, and the people were free to start building a life.
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Excerpt: It was not just that Jimmy the Fauve was different. That would be an understatement, since his differences went much deeper than his appearance. The obvious things, like his blue face, green arms and grey hands with their orange fingernails, were enough to set him apart from the instant of one's first encounter with him.
No doubt his nickname was the inevitable result of these surface details but it was apt beyond the knowledge of those who coined the name. Jimmy was the Fauve in ways that no one understood.
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Excerpt: There dwelled within the dark and dank labyrinth of a nightmare, a spooky so terrifyingly scary, it sent screaming from an elderly woman her withered Christian soul. The victim of the deadly nocturnal assault was a seventy-seven-year-old woman named Edith Loudermilk.
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Excerpt: James Fird was walking to school with his special white box that he hadn't let out of his sight all week. It was about twice as wide as a shoebox. In it was his future. He was so anxious, and yet pleased, that he had chosen this as his “New Day Device.” No one would ever have guessed what he had chosen. At least, no one else in the sixth grade. |
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This month's question: Give us your brainstorming tips!
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Have you managed to refurbish a story? What were your methods?
Paul  : Quite a few actually, it’s really an editing exercise. Some I keep the basic story concept and edit it until it says what it needs to say. Not necessarily what I want, just what it does. Some I keep the characters and edit/rewrite around them and some are basket cases and hard to coax the story I think it should tell out. I never throw stories I’ve written or started away though because some day they may provide me with a strong idea.
I’ve refurbished a few houses also and drove nothing but older cars that I gave new life to until I got to the point where I stand like a crippled question mark. I’m 76 and need a good refurbish myself, but we’re not to that point in capability yet.
gingerlyme: What a great idea! It's been ages since I've written anything beyond meeting minutes and grocery lists. Taking a look at my old creations could be a good way to start those wheels turning again.
Mastiff  : As an urban planner and public works director, I can relate to what you have written here completely. Very well said! (Oh, I don't mismanage... it wasn't me.)
Quick-Quill  : I agree with you. We all have portfolios of short stories. Why not take one and try expanding it to a novel?
ForeverDreamer : Looking at some of the other comments, I see that some of you are thinking of refurbishing differently than I was when I made my other comment about "Dismal Creek" . I took refurbishing to mean completely rewriting a story. Some of you are talking about what I would call revision. I revise all my stories. The definition of 'refurbish' can definitely be interpreted in different ways.
LegendaryMask❤️  : Great news letter and yes, rehab homes are in abundance here in America. To bad we don't fix them up a give them to the homeless. It is a very big waste that our society waste so much. From homes to businesses it is a shame. The sad thing is when a home isn't lived in becomes dead it's self. Very sad the decaying homes and buildings that can be used in do many helpful ways.
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Action/Adventure: June 05, 2019 Issue [#9586]
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