More Writing Ideas

If you’ve been through the list of where ideas can be found and you’re still stuck then here’s another method to try.

I am going to use my own responses to this method. We tried this at a course I attended and I felt pressured which shows in my answers – so don’t laugh!

So first of all, at the top of the page write the first word that comes to mind and then draw a circle around it. Don’t think about it, just do it. Write down the very first word. Here’s my word:

    Nothing

Then, down the left hand margin, write words triggered by your original word. Don’t think about it because this defeats the purpose of the exercise, just write. Pretend there’s a timer and you have to write 20 words in one minute. It doesn’t matter what words you write, just write words down the page until the page is full or until you have at least 12 words.

Here’s my word list:

    empty
    can’t think
    noise
    quiet
    start
    thinking
    talking
    need
    brain
    words
    blank
    writing
    words
    talking
    space
    more
    fill

The next step is to return to the first word on your list and again without thinking, write a title beside the word. It may or may not have the word in the title. Just write whatever title the word infuses on your brain.

Here are my titles:

    The Empty Cage
    Empty Images
    Noisy Depth
    Peaceful Gatherings
    The Beginning of Life
    Thoughts and Remembrance
    The Chatter Box
    Wanting Love
    Not Working
    The Endless Saga
    The Blank Dragon
    The Writing Cave
    More Words for the Bin
    The Talkative Magician
    Wide Open Spaces
    More Time Needed
    The Time to Digress

I started out with nothing (and it really was a blank mind) and ended up with 17 titles. Right, they may not be fabulous but… if you open your mind to the titles, stories start to form. Bingo! You have an idea to build on.

Nine people in the class used three of the titles mentioned above and came up with stories that sounded amazing (they spanned every genre known too). I wanted to run out and buy the books!

Now, anyone stuck for an idea should try this. If you do it with an open mind, you’ll be amazed at the result.

Go back to the contents page . . . | . . . Go to Part 3: Genre and Audience