Heroes Insider Weekly

The Invisible Woman's Investigative Tips

Google everything!

         My debut article in the WP Avengers mag, you excited? I am! My submissions will be based on my favorite websites for writers. I thought I would start with what an aspiring or seasonal writer would look for when first starting their story. Where to look for ideas and inspiration? My choice is not one particular website, but all of them and wherever your imagination leads you.

        I think we all know how Google works. A search engine that sends out spiders to look for certain key words in websites then provides you with the results. Sometimes the results can be frustrating. You stupid thing, I was looking up what the weather is like in Fiji. Not wanting to go there! Ok, maybe go there later on. Ooh flights are cheap. Yes very distracting.

         Google is a great source of inspiration and ideas. They can come from anywhere. A movie or TV shows a line of dialogue, lyrics in a song, a piece of text in a newspaper or a book that you can expand on and make a story of your own. Google can help to expand that little idea. Type it in and see what else comes up. Check if the idea or title has been used. Create a new idea if you want to be different.

         Looking for inspiration? Well, just type that in. There are many websites out there with that goal in mind and exist to help fellow writers find a story to write. I’m not one for searching for ideas online. I have too many floating around my crazy mind and not enough time to write them down let alone search for more. That would be chaotic!  However, I have checked a few out and believe they would be helpful—more of that in my next article. Stay tuned.

         Bing is another search engine. No, I’m not promoting this one. I just wanted to mention the Microsoft website and how much I hate it! It comes up with nowhere near the amount of websites that Google does. Fair enough, most of what Google comes up with is rubbish and nonsense when you go past the first few pages, but Bing, come on, does it even try search through the websites or does it get halfway through and go nope, I’m bored? That’s enough results if the answer isn’t their tough luck!

         Google people, if you have a windows phone that defaults to Bing, put a bookmark on Google and say up yours Bing! Stop wasting my writing time.

         I pull my hair out with the amount of research I do. Sometime I can’t find what I’m wanting. My advice to fellow Googlers, if it isn’t on the first page, try different key words. Change the structure of your search and keep it simple.

         Need a visual for your character or places in your novel, Google images. Type some key words in then you can spend hours trying to look for a similar image in your mind to show people what you’re trying to describe. Maybe even get some ideas on how to describe the object, character, place better. Save them to your hard drive and look at them whenever you like while writing. Don’t expect to find the exact thing that’s on your mind. It only exists there. So don’t be disappointed when you can’t find it.

       I find Google images to be very helpful with description and creating a sentence so other people can also visualize what I’m trying to describe. Also to check you’re describing it right or look for more words and ideas how to paint the picture.

         Google maps are another great way of visualizing a landscape in your story. Been somewhere as a kid and want to write about that place but can’t really afford to take a holiday there? Get onto the handy mapping database and type it in. Street view is great for gazing upon a landscape and gaining more description ideas. Look down the street you imagine your character walking through. Wow, be careful that red car doesn’t hit him as he tries to cross the road!

         More ideas can be gained from these images too. Maybe he could walk into that bakery and grab a bite to eat, except the pie bites him instead? Yeah, or maybe not…

         I also find Google maps great for designing your own maps for a fantasy world or just a sketch of a fictional town you’re planning to hold most of your story in.

         If you love the website, try the program. Google earth, it’s a free download easy enough to use. Downside is it uses the internet and if you have a slow connection. You can guess. That’s right. It’ll be slow! It’s also an upside. You know you’ll be getting the latest imagery available.

      The program has the same views except with more add-ons. Want to see more amazing scenery from an area, explore the 3D buildings, and look at other users' photos? The program is great in that way. I’ve found more than my fair share of ideas from images uploaded by other people. Warning! You may also get lost diving into the images. You need time to write too!

         Looking for more story ideas closer to real life? Click on the news and see what people have been doing. Could your character stop some of these awful things happening in the world? Could you write a story to bring attention to something you believe should have more awareness? New futuristic devices about to be release that you could be used in your sci-fi story? The ideas pulled from these pages could be endless. Type in a key word and let it rip.

         So that was my first article. I hope it has been of some use and provided some ideas and been some help with navigating around the Google website. If you enjoyed this article, make sure you keep following and check out more of the magazine.