You sit down; your eyes are poised at the screen. Your anticipating hands hover over the keyboard, waiting on orders from your mind: “Where’s the novel idea?”
He.
You type out the first word with a burning desire to write, but feel the flame disappear before you set the period.
He looked through the small hole. His imagination shattered as the motor moved at the speed of light.
Things are moving, but eventually you hit the wall: Your mind is closed – Please return again tomorrow; Time: No idea.
Being a writer is such a wonderful experience, but once you are hit by the blank mind. Where’s my novel ideas, then things go from wonderful to terrible real fast.
I can’t write. I just need to give up.
It’s such a common excuse, but it’s not because you can’t write. It’s because you don’t have anything to write.
It can be a challenge to get your novel ideas down to paper, but the challenge becomes impossible if you struggle to get the ideas in the first place.
But where am I supposed to find my ideas?
A great question.
But you landed here. Hence I know you searched for it. I’m not going to give you a thousand things you can do, because the answer is right there with you.
Grab your favorite pen and let me show you how your life is enough to spark hundreds of novel ideas you can use to make your writing bloom.
Real life is all that matters
It might be a shocker, but beside the obvious, it’s just as correct in writing: Your life has all the gold you need, you just need to start digging.
But what if I dig and find nothing?
It’s still there.
Your life either has or is missing it.
How does that make sense?
One of the best ways to get novel ideas is to take reference in the events in your life you enjoy. Things that bring you joy or something that you think are amazing.
You enjoy extreme survival? Make it a portion of your story. Do you think gardening is relaxing? Make it a hobby of your main character. Did you nearly pass out during your examination? Make it the climax of your story.
You might not know it, but you have a massive catalog of ideas just waiting to be used in a novel.
Why haven’t I used it yet? I’m such a degenerate.
Don’t beat yourself down. How are you supposed to find something, if you don’t know where to look?
Present or missing? Your ideas are unlimited
The beauty is it doesn’t have to be anything major. A simple, but painful event such as you of you falling off your bike can turn into a story:
A character getting hit by a car, the left side of his body turns to blood. He drifts in and out of consciousness as the doctors try to save his life. All the while, his best friend is going through trouble at home. His parents are fighting, and the violence is pushing your characters away from each other.
It can be anything.
In fact, find any experience you enjoy, let you mind expand it and you’ll quickly realize your ideas are unlimited.
You can do whatever you want. Remember writing doesn’t have to be real. It doesn’t have to make sense in our world. It just needs to make sense in the setting of your story, and it’s your job to convince the reader it’s possible.
Challenge the real
This leads me to the next point: The missing part.
Even if the gold is missing in your life, you still have the possibility to profit. Use the missing event as your springboard. Make it up.
The power of writing is that there’s no limit. Whatever you want to write, you can write.
Therefore, take inspiration from things that don’t exist, expand on something that exist or mix them together. It all comes down to your creativity:
She tapped her arm. Pairs of eyes turned her way. ‘What is she doing?’, she smiled. They didn’t know her secret. A few more taps and her eyes caught their reaction. A device wrapped itself around her arm, showing her everything she needed to know. The place was deserted. ‘There’s nobody inside, we are good to go.’ The stares turned to admiration before ambition. ‘Guess that’s why the chief wanted her on the team.’
Depending on the type of writer you are, you’ll do this differently. But if you limit your thinking to the existing, then it’ll always be the same. Drop the realism and the possibilities are endless.
Just because it doesn’t happen to you, doesn’t mean you can’t use it.
You live in a dynamic world. Something is always happening around you.
But I don’t live in poverty. My family is safe, and I don’t feel hate based on my color, sexuality or ideas.
That’s great, but if you do, I feel sorry for you.
The point is though: Just because something isn’t happening directly to you it’s still happening somewhere and it’s out there ready for you to use.
Even if you don’t live in poverty, you probably have an opinion about it. And if you have an opinion about it, then there’s plenty of novel ideas: Maybe a stateman’s not doing enough, a corrupt country, an altercation, mass eviction and multiple killings.
Even if something doesn’t happen to you there’s multiple of angles you can use.
I understand if writing about poverty doesn’t sound too exciting to you if you want to write romance. But if you are struggling with ideas, try to put your pride aside.
Browse a bit and I’m sure you can make the greatest romance novel even if it features homeless people trying to navigate a corrupt country.
But Jack I don’t pay it any attention, what do I do?
Welcome in the boat because neither do I.
I don’t read the news, don’t browse social medias, but this doesn’t mean I don’t have my senses open.
I still hear the conversations, I still ask questions, and yes, it’s far from the world I live in, but I still use some of the elements to gain novel ideas
Take the evil of the world and turn it into something positive
You need to get input, take in the senses and have something that sparks your interests. And if you are just starting out, don’t get too hung up on the details. If there’s a story you think is exiciting to tell, then you need to tell it.
Take the situation on the eastern side of the world.
Russia vs Ukraine (and its allies)
(I don’t know the details and I don’t mean to offend anybody here, it’s purely to explain how it works; Personally, I think it’s such a waste of human life and doesn’t condone any of it.)
Anyway, it started because of a personal desire to gain something. A personal desire to show off. It’s the bear showing off its strength.
The world around is going crazy: People are losing their lives, people are earning massive off the tragic, and there’s no peace.
And here comes the US. (Talk about a controversial way of pulling the rug away from just about the rest of the world.)
It’s war. It’s terrible and it’s tragic, but it’s all something you can use to write a story.
The personal desire to destroy simply just to show off and gain. A massive shocker. Controversy. It has all the elements you can use for novel idea.
It doesn’t have to be a novel about war, but if you take the topics/outcomes, then you can apply it to anything you find interesting.
Use the ‘What If’ method
What if you knew how the war ended? What if you turned left instead of right down at the corner? What if you…
There’s so many questions you can ask yourself. And since you choose to become a writer, I assume you enjoy being creative. And by asking yourself a few ‘What If’ questions you prime a lot of scenarios in your head that you can use to create novels.
And the beautiful part of ‘What Ifs’ is that you don’t just have to do one. You can take multiple scenarios, add them together and slowly build up a novel over time.
But also, the more you spin the massive wheel inside your head, the higher the chance of hitting the goal vein.
By asking these questions, you get to play with your creativity and force yourself to come up with scenarios and see how capable of creating great stories you are.
It might take some practice to create something that makes sense, but isn’t that why you are here anyway?
If everything else fails: Go on a leave
I don’t think it can be overstated, but the ideas won’t come if you sit, stare at a screen and try to force them onto the page. You need to give it time to breathe.
The most powerful method I have found is to go out for a walk.
Pick up a jacket, put on shoes, and go out in nature. I like to wear headphones without music to block out the noise of the city, but then I just walk around and take in the senses. It’s such a weird experience.
You go around in your own world and suddenly, a story pops up in your mind. A seed is placed. And if you give it time, it’ll eventually grow into a massive novel.
I know you might not believe me, but remember: Even the smallest seed will eventually grow into a big oak tree. It just needs time to slowly grow.
(This is how the story about the Sicilian twins started, which is now a 350 pages novel.)
And if going into natural isn’t your thing, then don’t worry. It can be just about anything. Sports, classes, hobbies. Anything that makes you get away from the problem and experience something, and lets the episode inspire you to get ideas.
This is the thing you need.
The right idea needs the right amount of time.
I understand you hate waiting. To stare at the screen and have nothing. It’s such a soul crusher, but unfortunately writing isn’t a thing you can’t force. Ideas are a natural thing just like your breath.
You might try to force it, but it won’t feel as fulfilling as when it comes naturally.
But just like there’s a place for a forced breath, so is there a place for a forced idea.
Whether it’s through your own life or the life of others, there’s experiences out there you can use to come up with ideas.
Whether it’s through your own doing or doing a leave, it’s never a bad idea to let your sense and imagination take your creativity to places that seem too unrealistic.
It’s writing. It’s a free place, and it’s your duty to make use of the freedom to tell the story that you believe needs to be told.
It might not be the right story, but through the wrong ideas the right idea spring. The right idea just needs the right amount of time.
That’s a wrap for you today.
Until next time – Hope you have a productive and creative day.
Your writing buddy,
Jack