A blank page is probably pretty intimidating to most people who want to write or draw. It’s like an instant block until you find that first word or gain enough courage to press the tip of your pencil to the page. What I personally find more intimidating, is finding the idea of what you want to write. It’s no easy feat. I know from personal experience and also from attempting to teach elementary-aged children how to rein in all of their rapid thoughts enough to create just one coherent sentence. Sometimes I feel the same way. I’ve got thoughts bouncing around here and there and it’s like a game of Tetris trying to fit them together in order to create a solid enough foundation for a novel. Other times I hit a wall and can’t think of anything at all.
When I hit that wall, these are 10 things I have tried or I do while I grapple with an empty well of ideas:
Write what you can’t find. I believe there is a quote from Toni Morrison that goes: “I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it”. I love this quote so much that I’d probably tattoo it onto the inside of my eyelids if I could. The project I’m currently working on was motivated heavily by this quote, because 1. I literally did searches trying to find anything remotely similar and 2. I really wanted something like it to exist already. I also want to finish this project because I want the satisfaction of being able to enjoy something that I created from nothing. In short, your zany idea might not be absurd, it’s just that no one as cool as you has come up with the idea yet. Go with it!
Write what you know. I used to take this advice way too literally until I started thinking of it more in terms of feelings, emotions and overall themes. It’s not like J.R.R. Tolkien actually took a hike to Mordor to toss some bling into middle earth. That world building was structured firstly around a story of friendship and responsibility. Start with something small. Journal about a time you felt elated or a time you felt jealous. What about a time you fought with a best friend or the relationship you have with your parents? These things are all under the umbrella of “writing what you know”. It’s not always easy and I can still feel very exposed in what I incorporate into my “fictional” content. Maybe the story is fictional, but the emotions are very real and have been felt.
Listen to music. Music is always on my radar. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a post on this site where I don’t make some kind of reference to a song or artist. I’ve probably “written” ten horribly cringe romcom stories in my head for “Shut Up and Dance” – Walk the Moon at this point (when will I get over my obsession with this song? Never is the answer.). If an artist can create an entire music video for their hit song, then surely you can capture an inkling for a story from your playlist.
Start pinning pictures of all your interests. Dedicate an entire board on your Pinterest to items that you love. Don’t even worry about breaking them down into smaller categories, you don’t have time for that. Just throw all your inspirational quotes, pictures of flowers, celebrity crushes and tacky linoleum floor patterns into one place. Movie posters, book quotes, chewing gum wrappers, fine china, armadillos, chain-link fences, casseroles, etc. Whatever gets that limbic system of yours revved up.
Ask the “what if” questions. Adam Silvera (author of “They Both Die at the End”, “More Happy Than Not”, “Infinity Son”, etc.) recently brought this up in one of his Instagram stories and it’s a game kids are superior at. The “what if” game. What if anytime you sneezed a clone of you would appear? What if all the furniture in our houses could talk like on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”? What if we had to revert back to the 90s? Just think, the person who came up with “Sharknado” must have thought “what if sharks could fly?” at some point!
Use moments of regret. Think of a moment in your life where you said “no” and have always wondered what would have happened if you had said “yes”. Write about what could have happened and roll around in all the regret (or relief, depending on the scenario).
Read more books/fan fiction. Pretty self-explanatory. I used to rebel so hard against this, but it’s pretty true that in order to be a writer your need to be a reader too. Not only does it improve the quality of your own writing, but it might also spark a new idea for a similar theme. Remember the wave of young adult dystopian novels that hit the shelves following “The Hunger Games”?
Ask your family and friends. Maybe they aren’t into writing like you are, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own crazy idea. Bounce some thoughts around and see what you can come up with. My own friends have some vivid imaginations and when I was in high school, we’d sit around in the hallway conjuring up some pretty whacky scenarios to pass the time.
The dictionary. When all else fails, do a little writing practice by closing your eyes and pointing to a word in the dictionary. Write a short piece based around that word.
Whip up a backstory for a stranger. I remember watching a video that had something to do with managing anger or frustration in a long line up at a grocery store. To settle your own judgemental thoughts, it was recommended to create a backstory for the person ahead of you. In this case it was to imagine a sob story to build empathy for the person who asked for two price checks or decided to pay for their items in nickels, but that could easily be applied to developing a story idea. I would often see a man with giant bag full of plastic bags on the bus. I would then imagine what his life was like. Was there a purpose for the bag of bags? Was it irony? Was it a silent protest? Did this person live alone or have a partner? Did the partner ever question the bag of bags? How did they feel about the bag of bags? Etcetera. You could write an entire story for the person with a bag of bags.
Ideas are everywhere. You just have to harness enough structure to create a beginning, middle and end.
I know, easier said than done.
What kind of magic do you weave in order to gather story ideas? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!