I think all writers know that inspiration doesn't always come easily!
What can you do if you want to write something (a short story, a new novel, a blog post, whatever it might be) and you just don't have an idea?
Do you sit there and try to force yourself to come up with an idea or do you wait to be inspired?
For me, this depends a bit on what sort of project I'm working on.
With blog posts, I tend to sit down and come up with a bunch of ideas every so often ... I don't need to feel particularly inspired to do that. (I'm very open, though, to adding to that list whenever an idea comes to mind.)
With fiction, I've learnt over the years that it's best not to force inspiration. Instead, I trust that an idea will emerge in its own time. (I'm always convinced, between novels or short stories, that I'll never have another worthwhile idea ... so far, this has never been the case! I often just need to be a bit more patient than I'd like.)
A single idea, when it comes, can carry you through years of writing and tens of thousands of words. My Lycopolis trilogy grew from an initial idea along the lines of "a group of friends summon an evil demon into their online game ... and into their world".
Forcing yourself to write about the "wrong" idea, though, is generally a recipe for producing a rather bland story -- or for giving up part-way through because you're just not enjoying it.
If you're waiting for inspiration right now, here are a couple of things you can try in order to set the stage for that idea to emerge:
- Read a lot – both fiction and non-fiction. Several key ideas within my novels have come from newspaper reports, for instance.
- Take in other forms of art – perhaps a song, or even a single line of a song, might inspire you. Or maybe you'll get an idea from an expression in a photograph, or the composition of a painting.
For more help with ideas, you might also like to read these blog posts on Aliventures:
I hope you find lots of wonderful ideas that carry you through your next project. Good luck!
