Caleb says:

Thanks for the ideas, Kevin.

I don’t immerse myself into enough writing prompts like that 3 a.m. book you showed us. Sounds like a great jump-starter!

The other two tips — the quotations book and reading favorite authors — always get my brain moving. I’ve built entire stories off of quotes, such as these first few graphs of a story I did while interning for MLB.com (covering NYY):

……………….

NEW YORK — He walks around the clubhouse in a quiet, if not serious manner. His presence permeates throughout the white-walled lockers. He answers questions with ease and little emotion. Meekness seems sunken into every bit of his demeanor.

Just look at his eyes. It lives in Phil Hughes.

“Humility, that low, sweet root,” penned Irish poet Thomas Moore, “from which all heavenly virtues shoot.”

Hughes, of course, is no transient miracle hiding in a 6-foot-5 frame. No, he’s just a pitcher. A darned good one, too, judging from the Minor League numbers he coaxed last year with that mid-90s fastball and sharp-breaking curve. But beneath the top draft pick label, beneath the electric pitches, and beneath that pinstriped uniform is a humble 20-year-old kid.

Mark Newman, the Yankees’ senior vice president of baseball operations, has said Hughes is probably the best young pitcher the team has had since 1989, Newman’s first year with the club.

……………….

I find that quotes become powerful when they’re directly connected to a main character or the theme of a book. Ted’s Obsessed didn’t drip theme on every page, and yet, at the end of the book, when Ted paraphrases Scripture about being ‘obsessed,’ it pierced me right through the heart. Because of this, I planned the premise of my novel around two quotes, one at the beginning, and one at the end.

Again, thanks for sharing! Your blog is very encouraging!