Indie Authors! Don’t spend $100s outsourcing formatting! Do it yourself for free. Learn how with our course. Best $35 you’ll spend. Click here to learn more.
Let's go to the mall. Consider it a perfect excuse to browse to your heart's content, and, if anyone asks, you can say you are a writer researching a story. Here are three exercises two for fiction, one for nonfiction.
Fiction
Look around the store at the people in the store. Look at both shoppers and employees. Think about what brought those shoppers into the store. There's a story behind each product bought. Imagine that story. Now, look at the employees. Why are they there? This probably isn't their life's career. What do they want? How do they relate to each other? Watch the interaction between them and the shoppers. Sit down outside and jot down your impressions of these characters. Build some backstories for them.
Another good fiction idea is a little game I call "What's in that package?" Position yourself somewhere where you can watch people coming and going from the shops. Look at the packages and guess what's in the package. What did they buy? Why did they buy it? In your mind follow them home. (Only do this in your mind, if you do it in person, you might get arrested.) Think about what they are going to do with that object. Is it a teenage girl's prom dress? Is it a pair of pajamas for a bedridden, terminal parent? Is it paint for a new nursery? A wedding ring? Books for school? Each purchase has a back story, use your imagination to figure it out.
Nonfiction
Look at the products on sale. How are they displayed? What do these products tell us about trends in society? What are their functions? Are you good at using one of them? Could you write an article/handbook on how to use it? Can you think of unusual uses for ordinary items? What about some of the items that is interesting, weird, or bizarre? Is there a story behind that item? Brainstorm at least 10 ideas from each store and visit at least five stores. Remember, with brainstorming, you write down every idea even the stupid ones.
If you break away from the mall and go to an area featuring locally- -owned and operated businesses. Look for interesting businesses, displays, and promotional ideas. Trade journals eat that stuff up. Back in the early 1980s, I saw a take-and-bake pizza place in our town. There were hardly any such places around back then. I got an interview with the owner and got a great story for an entrepreneurial magazine. The article took an hour for the interview and maybe two hours to write. I got $100 for it.