Coming up with ideas for writing books, screenplays, or short stories can be hard for some. There are writers who have brains that never seem to shut off and are constantly coming up with concepts. Then there are others who get a random idea every now and then, but generally have to work hard to figure out what they want to write next. Regardless of which of those descriptions sounds most like you, understanding the various ways in which you can come up with an idea for your next piece can help make the process a little easier.
Before we go over the tips that can be helpful for ideation, there are a couple of key points you’ll want to remember about ideation in general that can help make coming up with an idea a lot less stressful.
Don’t outright reject ideas that come to you spontaneously.
For various reasons, you may have an idea that comes to mind and then immediately reject it. For example, maybe it reminds you too much of a painful memory or you’re afraid that it will take too much research and time to execute the idea. Stop cutting your inspiration off at the knees. Respect your creativity by at least putting the idea on your brain board. Even if it doesn’t end up being the central idea for your next project, maybe it will play a smaller role in the piece or even be a great idea for a future endeavor.
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel
This may also be one of the reasons that you reject an idea that comes to you spontaneously. “Oh, I’ve read that a million times” or “I’ve seen that movie plot all over the place!” Try to keep yourself from struggling to come up with something that is “completely” different from anything you have ever read or seen. The vast majority of readers read what they’re comfortable with. In other words, they read the same story over and over again, just in different iterations. Consider the most popular and profitable genre in the world: romance. For the most part, every romance novel is the same. Two people fall in love and overcome various hurdles to eventually end up together forever. Does that sound particularly complicated? No. Is it a single idea that fuels an industry that’s worth over $1.08 billion annually? Yep. So, don’t worry about standing out. Whatever story you decide to tell, or whatever information you choose to impart upon readers, the fact that you’re writing it is special enough!
Now that your mind is more open, it’s time to list a few of the strongest sources of story, book, and screenplay ideas.
Look in the mirror
What do you have going on in your life that could serve as fodder for your writing? These can be past events, present circumstance, or even future hopes and dreams. What happens if you really do win the lottery? What do you think actually happened to the old Collie that your parents told you ran away? What if your grandfather had never served in the armed forces? What if you hadn’t gotten divorced? Speculate freely and you might be surprised at how many ideas you come up with that you would be able to write about from a unique perspective simply because the concepts are so closely tied to what you experience on a daily basis.
Mine the news
You can find almost any genre of idea for writing a new piece when you watch the news. Yes, you can simply tell a more detailed, engaging version of the report on the cheetah and emu who fell in love (for a romantic comedy) or create a spicy version of the various Christmas recipes that have been featured during lifestyle segments ( for a cookbook), but you can also add various twists to those stories. For example, if you primarily write murder mysteries, your bread and butter will likely be any unsolved cases that are still being reported on. How was the missing person killed? Where is the body? How did it get there? Who knows what? Who is the killer? How are they evading suspicion and / or capture? You don’t necessarily need all the real details. You can make up or leave out whatever you want in order to put lipstick on the reality pig and create a stellar story that people love reading.
Another example is if a new set of data has been presented to the world. For instance, “Experts are reporting that 90% more people have accrued overdraft fees this year versus last year.” What can you do with that report? Can you educate people about how credit works? Can you teach them a handful of tricks for avoiding and reversing overdraft fees? A self-help book is easily created by simply answering a question or solving a problem. News channels are a way to find out what people are concerned about or actively struggling with.
Other Writing
You can use a book, screenplay, or story you already like as a starting point for your novel or screenplay. For example, if you enjoyed The Stand by Stephen King, you can take what you don’t like about it and start thinking about the changes you would make to form your own epic tale. Would you have an even more diverse cast including beings from different galaxies or even ghosts? How would you change the ending? Would you include more or fewer characters? What would the opening scene look like? Take a look at the relationship between George Orwell’s 1984 and Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We to get an idea of how one work can inspire and inform another.
The same goes for movies, television shows, and even video games. Most of us can think of a film we were loving up until ‘that’ scene. Well, if you don’t like it, re-write it! Any film, show, or game that you’ve seen that made you think “I could have written a better script than that!” is a ripe opportunity for you to put your money where your mouth is!
And these methods aren’t just for coming up with your next idea, but for refreshing your old ones. If you think a series you’ve been writing is getting stale, explore some of these options to consider jazzing it up with a new kind of problem, a new character, or even a new type of location.
Once you have a general idea of what you want to write about on your brain board, it’s time to start creating your premise if you’re going to do any sort of planning of the manuscript. If not, then it’s time to start writing!
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