Offers students and other young artists the resources and a structure of writing practice so that they can generate a variety of stories in a range of forms. This book shows you how to observe situations, acts, and themes - and use these observations as the basis for storytelling.

The vast majority of screenplay and writing books focus on story development and have little to say about the initial concept that generated the piece. "Developing Story Ideas" offers students and other young artists a spectrum of resources and a structure of writing practice so that anyone can quickly and reliably generate a wide variety of stories in a broad range of forms. It first shows you how to observe situations, acts, and themes - and use these observations as the basis for storytelling. Exercises and projects help you draw an artistic self-profile to summarize what you most need to investigate in your creative work. Micahel Rabiger, a renowned teacher, author, educator, and mentor, proves we all have the inner resources and life experiences to be creative. He guides aspiring writers step by step to come up with quality story ideas in a broad range of forms: a screenplay, short story, documentary, or play.

Using the tools of the screenwriter's trade, in a way that is slightly academic at times, Rabiger reveals how to chart a scene and represent its intensity as a dramatic arc, as well as exploring how to analyse stories for effectiveness, meaning and purpose, which is relevant to film and video creators at all levels. - What Digital Camcorder Rabiger does a nice job, guiding the reader through the writing process from selecting a genre to creating the plot to developing interesting characters. If you'd like to become a better scriptwriter, this one is well worth the money. - Videomaker Magazine His program-between-covers for developing ideas into proposals that will sell is more textbook than narrative...The value of Rabiger's book for an individual writer almost surely depends on how that writer's mind operates. - The Writer, May 2006

• Introduction
• Part I
• Overview
• This Book and Its Goals
• About the Creative Process
• Part II
• Observation, Improvisation, and Self Examination Projects
• Introductions and Playing 'Instant Story'
• Autobiography and Influences
• Observing from Life
• Artistic Identity
• Part III
• Creative Writing Assignments
• A Tale from Childhood
• Family Story
• A Myth, Legend, or Folktale Retold
• Dream Story
• Adapting a Short Story
• News Story
• A Documentary Subject
• Thirty Minute Original Fiction
• Feature Film
• Part IV
• The Emerging Writer
• Revisiting Your Artistic Identity
• Part V
• Expanding your Work Into Its Final Form
• Story
• Editing Your Outline
• Dramatic Conventions
• Expanding Your Outline
• Appendix
• Index