When you are writing regularly, you are bound to run short of ideas. It may seem that your mind is full of ideas, but when you sit down to write you can’t hold on to a single one. Not unlike trying to catch the little fishes in a stream – you see so many of them, but every time you dip your hand in the water to catch one, the hand comes out empty.
Not being able to write when one wants to can be quite frustrating, and can also make a dent in one’s self-belief. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the writer, if he can write whenever he chooses, and to do that a writer should have a repository of ideas to draw upon in times of need.
Here is a list that can help you find ideas for writing when you have none:
1. Nothing works better than everyday life. The first place where you should be looking for ideas is the everyday life. Not just any everyday life, but your everyday life. From morning to evening, I am sure, your life is filled with hundreds of incidents and encounters, and in each one of them lies a story. All we have to do is watch closely and observe the things that happen around you. Like the proverbial beauty, that lies in the eyes of the beholder, the ability to garner ideas from the everyday life lies in the mind of the creative writer.
2. News. News usually comprises of events and incidents that are out of the ordinary. If any thing is ordinary, it won’t make the news. News, therefore, can provide you with an excellent opportunity to give your imagination a free hand, and write a story about the triple murder, or the bank robbery. You could even write a full-length novel about the presidential elections that made the news all over the world.
3. Knowledge. You can not write anything with a great degree of clarity unless you have a complete knowledge of the subject. The vice-versa also holds true. If you have the know-how of any topic, it will be easier for you to write about it, and it is also quite likely that what you will write will grab the attention of the reader. So, try to figure out what is it that you know about best, and write on that subject. John Grisham and Robin Cook are excellent examples of writers who used their knowledge of the legal and the medical field to churn out best-selling legal and medical thrillers.
4. Reading. Although it is hard to explain, yet it is a fact endorsed by most writers that more reading leads to more and better writing. So, however busy your schedule may be, if you hope to write with any degree of skill and consistency make it a point to take time out to read good books. It will not only help you get ideas, but it will also help you improve your writing style. You don’t have to copy from the books you read, but you can modify your own ideas and style to be more like the writers that inspire you.
5. Imagination. Last, but never the least, a creative writer has to delve into the realms of imagination to produce great works of writing. Imagination, as usually thought, doesn’t necessarily mean going on wild flights of fancy; it can simply be the modification of the mundane, everyday reality into something interesting, and out of the ordinary. No writer can survive without using his imagination to come up with great writing ideas.
Where do you find your ideas?
Image courtesy: raja4u from sxc.hu
What do you think?