I is for Idea Generators by Susan Barclay

 

I is not the easiest letter to work with as a blog prompt, so when you’re awake at 2 in the morning, struggling to sleep, the mind works. It generates ideas. (See what I did there? This month’s topic is idea generators!)

As writers sometimes the hardest part is getting started. We can certainly ask the Lord what He wants us to write about and expect Him to answer, yet when He seems silent and we want to keep writing while we wait on Him, we can turn to other sources to ignite our brains, our pens, our fingers on the keyboard.

Search the term ‘writing idea generator’ or ‘creative writing prompts’ on the Internet and you’ll get plenty of hits, including this one where you can also submit your completed story. Some sites require you to sign up or pay for premium service, so it’s worth exploring to find the site that best suits your needs.

Of course, you don’t need to turn to the Internet for ideas, even as You wait on divine direction. Here are a few other potentially stimulating exercises:

1. Go to your favourite people-watching place. Listen and watch. Ask yourself questions about the people you see and the lives they live. As you catch snippets of conversations, consider what might be said next, what might happen next in their stories. Ask ‘what if’ questions: what if the single mom on whom the family income depends breaks her ankle? What if the irritable man has just learned that his family won’t be able to join him in Canada as soon as he’d expected? What if the boy who is clinging to his mother is being bullied at school? Make notes. If you’re anything like me, you’ll forget your best ideas if they’re not written down.

2. Take a walk in your neighbourhood or nearby natural area. Take your camera or use your phone to take pictures. At home or sitting on a park bench, look through your photos and use the ones that speak to you as prompts for a poem, short story, or other piece of work.

3. Write something that offers immediate gratification: a poem, a piece of flash fiction, one perfect sentence, a devotional, a short short story, a journal entry, a monologue. See if any of it can be fleshed out into something more lengthy or if it generates yet another writing idea.

4. Copy the work of an author whose style you admire. Write out the opening page or pages of a favourite novel or work of non-fiction. What is it that you like? Try to capture the tone in a piece of your own.

5. All real writers read. If you’ve sought the Lord, tried the above exercises, and are still struggling to write something that excites you, read for the sheer pleasure of reading. Reading is good for the mind. Reading is relaxing, refreshing, and restorative. It’s good for the soul. And as Jim Rohn is quoted as saying, “Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.”

If this post inspired you and gave you some ideas, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

 

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For more about Susan Barclay and her writing, please visit www.susan-barclay.blogspot.com.