5 simple ways to generate story ideas
By: Melissa-Jane Nguyen
Tags: Creativity, Writing Tips, Writing, Writers Block, Creative Process

5 Simple Ways to Generate Story Ideas

Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

Lately, I’ve had plenty of writing ideas, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes a blank page and a mind full of everything else but writing are all I’ve got.

My life currently consists of parenting a toddler and juggling household chores with my freelance editing work while pregnant with my second child. (Just reading that sentence is exhausting!) In between parent life, work life, the appointments and all the tasks that are top priority, my brain doesn’t always want to cooperate when I finally get a chance to concentrate on writing.

Your situation might not be anything like mine but your own busy work/personal life schedule creates the same blank-page and full-mind result.

There are lots of tools and techniques out there you can try to get your creative engine fired up, but the 5 following ways are what work for me. And the best thing is, they work for either fiction or non-fiction and short or long pieces of writing.

1. Use your personal experiences from everyday life

List the things you’ve experienced within the last couple of weeks that have made you feel something. This is my biggest go-to because my writing is highly emotive. Even when writing fiction, the theme and ideas usually stem from things I feel strongly about and have experienced in some way.

Example

At 30 weeks pregnant, I had a flat tyre while in a semi-rural location that only gave me one teeny little bar of phone service, which made phone calls difficult. I felt stranded and helpless, which was upsetting at the time but later gave me the idea for a piece about control issues.

2. Browse news headlines

You can look at news headlines via any kind of media outlet (newspapers, magazines, online publications etc.) but I find the best come from the news app on my phone or Twitter hashtags. This is because the news is tailored to my interests (which can be a negative, but for this purpose, it’s useful) and most likely to elicit some kind of response that leads to ideas I want to write about.

Example

A few years back, Aussie tennis player Nick Kyrgios started copping a huge amount of criticism from the media. Article after article kept popping up and they all annoyed the hell out of me, so in response, I wrote my own piece, which went on to be published in The Roar.

3. Use a writing prompt

Writing prompts are everywhere. There are apps you can download that generate writing prompts, there are a bunch of writing prompts subreddits and writing-focused websites and organisations like Writer’s Digest and NaNoWriMo that regularly feature writing prompts.

Example

I participate in the monthly Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction competition when I have time, but even when I don’t have time, I save the prompt for later when I might be in need of inspiration. I’ve published two of my Furious Fiction pieces here on Medium that I probably wouldn’t have thought to write if not for a prompt.

4. Read something outside your usual genres

Check out your bookshelves for books read by other members of your family that you wouldn’t usually even pick up. Even if you’re only finding educational books and textbooks, these can sometimes form an idea you wouldn’t have thought of before — you never know, a mathematics textbook might inspire you to create a character who’s a maths genius.

Example

I often turn to the antique books on my shelves. Not only are they beautiful to look at but often just the title and subject of a book is enough to get me thinking (e.g. Curious Stories About Fairies and Other Funny People and Coaching Days and Coaching Ways). One book, in particular, Letters of Queen Victoria 1837–1861 is a favourite to browse for snippets of moments in history, and is what inspired me to add an obsession of Queen Elizabeth I to the main character in my YA novel (a work in progress) — different queen, obviously, but it’s where the idea started forming in my mind.

5. Engage in forums and groups

This is really useful if you’re already involved in forums and groups on topics you feel passionate about or have experience with. Check out what members are discussing and posting about. Perhaps there’s a question that keeps coming up that inspires you to write an article that addresses that question or an issue that involves a theme you’d like to explore in a character.

Example

After seeing lots of posts about mums-to-be feeling awful about comments on the size of their pregnant bellies combined with my own experience, I decided to write about it and publish the piece here on Medium.