Hunting for the next big story

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Hello, friend.

Did you know that today is the first day of story hunting season? True story.

I've been waiting for this day all year, and I can't wait to get out there and catch some great new content for my blog.

Feel free to tag along if you'd like.


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I wonder what sort of stories I'll catch this year. Hopefully I'm a bit more lucky than I was last year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying last year was a flop by any means. It just wasn't exactly bestselling, you know?

The stories I caught last year certainly got the job done and were inspiring to an extent. But none of them were really unique or timeless in any way.

Basically what I'm saying is, none of them were the sort of stories you'd want to drag back to the bar and brag about, you know?


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Anyway, here we are.

This is probably a good spot to stop for a bit and start outlining plans for the rest of the story hunt.


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What I'll usually do is set out several dictionaries opened up to random pages in case anything definitive decides to come wandering by.

A thesaurus will work too, just be discriminating because you can get yourself in big hot water pretty quick with those if you don't know what you're undertaking.

Sometimes instead of using any book traps I simply stand there with my eyes closed for a while, waiting to see if maybe I'll catch wind of something interesting. That's how I got an epic poem about a blind world-champion kitesurfer once.


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There are so many different ways to story hunt, I could probably fill a library with the ones I know, and another couple libraries with all the ones I don't.

But however you choose to hunt, just keep this little piece of advice in mind:

The best stories are notoriously bad at hiding, but they're also the hardest ones to score.

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Speaking of which, what's that over there in the bushes?


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Damn, I think we might have ourselves a story here! And a very fine looking one at that!

Let me have a closer look…


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By all Jove's finest bards!

Do my eyes deceive me?


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For I believe I spy not one, but two stories over yonder!

Two most excellent story specimens, and both well within easy reach!

'Tis my lucky day today for sure!

Hear ye, hear ye all, I shall now make those two glorious stories mine!

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Well, perhaps 'tis not my lucky day after all.

It seems that I have been creatively blocked.

One of the stories escaped my grasp, slipped my mind like a fond memory forgotten.

I caught the other story, but upon closer inspection I must conclude that it's no good,

because it doesn't have a conclusion.


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1-21-22. Well that was… something.

Hunting for the next big story | Ecency