How to Write a Book: Generating Writing Ideas « YOUNG WRITERS GROUP

Written by Deborah Owen
Saturday, 09 January 2010
Where do bestselling writers get ideas for their books? You can use the same methods they do to create your own successful book.

How to Write a Book: Generating Writing Ideas

When you sit down to write, where do all the ideas go? Especially the ones you thought of only 15 minutes before. They went to Idea Land. Sometimes they will return, and sometimes they won’t, so you need to learn how to drum up more writing ideas.

One good way is to think of a dramatic scene:

Two ice skaters on a lake – one falls through the ice and drowns
Someone is kidnapped and they left a clue on purpose
The janitor at school wins a lottery ticket. What happens to him?
Someone hacks into a computer and steals the owner’s identity
A mother and child are separated in a shopping mall

Ideas are all around you in real life. Read the newspapers. Listen to the news. Search old newspapers, rename the people, and lift out some of the information to make your own story. You could sit in a restaurant and eavesdrop on other people. Imagine all sorts of things according to what you hear. Or stand in a crowd and do nothing but listen. Life is full of weird things.

Look at any object – a house, semi-truck, car, dog, child, bridge, etc., and ask the six questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Example: Who is that person, when did they get to that place and why? Where is that truck going and what will happen along the way? What is the name of that bridge? Why does it carry that name?

All of these things can trigger ideas in your imagination. Some of your best ideas will come from real life. Don’t make the mistake of copying private circumstances into a story. That’s a good way to get sued, but you can take circumstances from three or four people and mix them up until they give you a story. (And then you can be sued by three or four people. Nah. Just kidding.) When you use circumstances in someone’s life, disguise them well and you will have no fears.

Here’s something I read on the net recently – look at a piece of furniture and imagine that one piece of furniture is in a house, hundreds of miles away. Now furnish the house however you like; fill it with occupants, landscape the yard, and focus a story on the house or the people.

You can come up with good ideas from writing prompts, too. For example: Three men are surviving in a life raft. Land is still three days away and even with rationing, there is only enough water for one man. What happens? When you think of the answer, ask yourself “What if?”. That will expand your mind to all the various possibilities.

And when you get the idea you want, run with it! Sit down to the keyboard and type and type and type. Do not edit until your ideas run out. If you can’t write at that moment, take brief notes so you don’t lose the thought.

About the author:

Deborah Owen, founder of http://www.creativewritinginstitute.com – the only fully mentored writing school. Have your own private tutor at bargain basement prices. To receive our newsletter or a free evaluation of your writing, write to deborahowen@cwinst.com

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