April 22, 2011

For a long time (for many years, in fact), you can “write what you know” without running out of material or repeating yourself. Many of your deepest themes and best material will grow out of your own experiences.

However, don’t overlook the world around you for new ideas–or just new twists and subplots for your writing.

Reaching the World

The world outside your own experience can give your writing the freshness it needs to stand out. It can also provide you with new angles on old topics.

While it’s lovely to be able to travel widely, many of us have neither the time nor the resources to do so. Most of my traveling has been of the “armchair” variety–through books, PBS specials, video cams set up around the world, and websites. All these are helpful. Here are a few more ways to be inspired by the world happening around you.

In the News

I’m afraid I’m guilty of having never read a newspaper front to back (or back to front, for that matter.) World news and events rarely make sense to me unless they’re explained by someone in simple sentences. However, if I skip the front pages and go to the opinion pages and lesser known human interest stories, there’s a wealth of story ideas to be found.

Often you can put two stories or two headlines together and free associate a bit–creating a whole new and creative idea. (NOTE: I find that small town newspapers are sometimes the best. They cover stories that aren’t “big” enough for major papers, but they give terrific details that bring things to life.)

Another suggestion I read somewhere was to pay attention to what is going on in your neighborhood (or apartment complex). Pay attention to community events’ calendars. Watch and listen to others on your commute or in the booth behind you at McDonalds. Truth is still stranger than fiction–and often just what you needed to spice up your story.

More Nonfiction

If you’re like me, your “fun reading” time is spent mostly on fiction. I do read quite a bit of nonfiction dealing with writing or families, but very little on subjects like history, economics, art, or the sciences. Exploring various subjects–looking at something through the eyes of a historical event or unusual health issue–can prompt many story ideas, subplots, and unique characters. You can find this kind of nonfiction information by exploring out in “the real world” or online.

Exploring the lives of other artists can prompt your creative muse as well. As writers, we sometimes need to enjoy other types of art, even if we don’t understand much of it. (I usually don’t.) But there’s something about wandering through an art gallery, studying the paintings that touch you or sculptures that capture your imagination, that stirs a writer’s sleeping muse. A crafts fair, an antique mall, a botanical museum–each can be a source of new ideas.

When you feel dry, where do you go for inspiration?

November 5, 2010

Want to know an easy way to think of both ideas for story conflicts and ideas for nonfiction? I read this idea in a newsletter by Angela Booth, and I wanted to pass it along.

People want to learn how to do things, how to solve things, and how to overcome problems.

Challenges in All Sizes

People have small problems and huge problems to overcome. They want to accomplish small things (organize an office), overcome medium challenges (potty train a toddler), and survive huge things (like being laid off from a job).

Do you write for kids? Just scale down the ideas. Children and teens want to organize their bedrooms, paper train a puppy, and survive their dad being laid off. Each “want to do” activity could be an article, a whole series of online articles, or the central plot of a book (either serious or humorous).

Technique to Generate Ideas

“Go to Google.com and enter ‘How do I’ with a VERB into the search query field. With the magic of Google Instant, you’ll get lots of ideas,” says Angela Booth.

For example, I entered “How do I make” (without quotes) and got:

• How do I make clear ice cubes like in a restaurant?
• How do I make my hair grow faster?
• How do I make an electromagnet?
• How do I make a pinewood derby car do faster? 

This doesn’t just generate ideas. It generates ideas that thousands of people are interested in! It generates topics for your writing that people want to read about. And many of the topics can be adjusted if you write for children and teens. (Example from above: a child may not care about making clear ice cubes for his dinner party, but it would make a great science fair project. And that science fair project can be a nonfiction article or a plot/subplot in your novel.)

See the possibilities? Try lots of verbs in your search, Googling “how do I build” and “how do I create” and “how do I quit” and so many others!

If you try this technique, give an example in a comment. I bet we could come up with some really unusual ideas this way!

October 27, 2010

Ever stumped for new ideas? When I started my last new book, I noticed during the plotting process that I was short on fresh ideas. I had used up many of the ideas collected over the years and stashed in my “Idea Notebook.”

While one interesting idea might be enough for a very short story, books take LOTS of intriguing ideas. You need ideas for quirky characters, ideas for many unusual plot twists, ideas for great secondary characters, and unusual places for settings (even when that setting is your home town).

Ideas Everywhere!

It’s good to write down the ideas that come to you out of the blue (in the shower, when you first awake, on a walk, etc.) But sometimes you need good ideas faster than that. You need LOTS of ideas, and you need them soon. Where are some good places to find them?

1) Get a stack of old magazines, either your own or the stacks given away or traded at most public libraries. Flip through each magazine very quickly. If something catches your eye (unusual photo, funny advertisement, interesting headline, local event), tear out that page. Skim articles–don’t read in depth at this point. That can come later when you put your ideas together.

2) Because many of us spend a lot of time online, also keep a computer version of an Idea File. You can have sub-files labeled “characters” or “themes” or “events,” if you like. But when you are reading the news online or you click on one of those weird-sounding Google ads and come across something odd or funny or quirky, copy and paste the story into your computer Idea File. Also store the URL (the web address where you found the idea.) Remember that URLs can disappear, so copy and paste the pertinent details. Just make it a habit to have your Idea File open when you’re surfing the web, then drop the interesting tidbits you find into the file, and watch it grow!

3) Lie down and try taking a ten-minute nap. Just close your eyes and relax. You might actually fall asleep, but I never do. The minute I try to relax and take a short power nap, my busy mind kicks into gear. All kinds of ideas surface, the kinds that make you get up and write them down before you forget them.

4) This won’t sound like a pleasant way to spend time, but a good idea generator is to make a list of “The things I hate…” List the most annoying people, annoying habits or annoying anythings in your life. Annoying people make great antagonists, annoying habits add character depth to all your characters (including your hero), and annoying events give you plots to write about (and things for your hero to overcome.) The added “plus” in writing about things that annoy or disturb you is that you’ll write with passion. It will help you stick to your writing schedule, and the passion will come through in a more powerful story.

5) Explore words! Just for fun! Read the dictionary or thesaurus. Five minutes of this, and you’ll generate more ideas than you can imagine.

Feelers Out!

Try to get into the habit of always having your antennae up and alert for ideas. They’re everywhere. Then go one step further and capture the ideas for later writing. Oh, you’ll be glad you did!

What other places and ways have YOU found to be helpful in finding ideas?