Generating New Ideas By Yourself

Last Tuesday, the MPLWG covered how to help generate new ideas for potential manuscripts. Anything around you is a potential idea for a creative writing manuscript. Most importantly of all, anything inside your head and what you think about are also potential story generators.

Sources of inspiration for various ideas are a lot closer than you would think. The old adage “write what you know” applies but that can be an oversimplification as in many cases research and creativity are required to make engaging pieces. Below are a few potential idea generations based on your life:

• Using your life experiences is a good start. What certain events shaped you and how would they be used in a creative writing scenario? How can they apply to different characters you create? Experiences help us relate to characters and events as readers and any experience that was powerful to you can potentially be powerful in the story if executed well.
• Using your memories, especially regarding sensations, visuals, etc. What is a memory that sticks out in your head the most and what can you remember to make a creative writing scene? Were you happy, scared, etc? Try to remember the emotions felt and the sensations that went along with them.
• Using your imagination, arguably one of the most powerful skills and idea generators of them all. Pay attention to your daydreams and even words that cycle through your head as they are full of idea generating potential.
• Using your observation skills; what object to your right could have an interesting backstory? What color is your wall? Is the gate rusty at the park you visit on some weekends? Ask yourself questions and answer them by performing research and using your imagination.

These few idea generators are powerful steps to helping create a new story idea. Take note of what you experienced in life, your memories, your imagination, and what you observe around you. Often these simple tools often shape up powerful manuscripts.

You can also consult additional tools from different sources on the Internet, such as Masterclass’ articles on generating ideas.

The methods to generating ideas are endless.

– MPLWG