Finding Daily Inspiration
Carry a writing journal or a recorder with you at all times. If you always have your journal and recorder, you'll be prepared for any time-to-time inspiration strikes. Jot down a note whenever an idea comes to you, or record interesting dialogue you overhear. Then, go back through your notes or listen to your recordings when you have some free time, and see if you can turn them into a story. If you meet someone interesting, ask them if you can sit down with them for an interview, then ask them about some of their most memorable experiences. This is a great technique if you need inspiration for a blog. Write down or record all of your ideas while you’re going about your day, then develop them into posts. That way, you’ll always have a stream of new content. If you prefer creative writing, let your imagination roam when you’re out in public. If you hear a little fragment of a conversation, try to imagine the back story. For instance, you might hear someone say something like, “Then, he had the nerve to ask for another slice of cake!” Create a scenario in your mind where this would be an outrageous request, then use it in a story. EXPERT TIP Julia Martins, Content Manager Julia Martins, Content Manager BA in English, Stanford University Julia Martins graduated from Stanford University in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in English with a focus in Creative Writing. Julia also received Honors in Feminine, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. During her time at wikiHow, Julia managed the Article Summary project, which summarizes our articles for smart devices. She also hired editors who help produce comprehensive, well researched articles on wikiHow. Julia Martins, Content Manager Julia Martins, Content Manager BA in English, Stanford University Julia Martins, creative writer, tells us: "Every writer has different "rules" about how to get inspired, how often you should write, what you should write on... the list goes on! The most important thing is that you find what works for you."
Change your scenery or environment to freshen things up. Switching up your environment can boost your imagination and loosen up ideas. This might be anything from sitting at a different table while you’re writing to going on a trip somewhere you’ve never been before. Sometimes, this is all it takes to give you a fresh perspective and offer new ideas. If you normally write from home, you might work in another room of your house, visit a nearby coffee shop, or go outside and write. Even something as simple as changing your desktop background might help. This can be helpful if you have writer’s block while you’re working on a report for school or work, as well as for more personal forms of writing.
Write about what you observe. If you’re having trouble thinking of something to write about, try looking around at your environment. No matter where you are, you can pick an item, a person, or a situation that you can observe, then write about it. Include details on who, what, why, how, and when, and try to include as much detail as possible. Writing about what you see helps put you in the present moment. It can also help you hone your attention to detail. Choose an object in the room, like a grandfather clock. Write about the appearance of the clock, who made it, and its history. Feel free to make the story as outrageous as you want. For instance, you might say that the original owner of the clock was a pirate, and he bought the clock when he finally retired from the high seas!
Visit a busy place and people-watch for ideas. Other people can be great writing inspiration, and they are easy to find in a busy, public setting. Travel to a public place, find interesting characters, and watch them for inspiration. Write about their appearance, actions, and words. Visit places like a cafe, shopping mall, or outdoor park. Sometimes you can find inspiration for creative writing in even the most mundane tasks. As you’re watching people, try to think of imaginative back stories, like deciding a suburban mom is really a spy on a secret mission, or an average teenager buying coffee is really a member of a royal family who’s escaped to your town to enjoy a normal life for a while.
Listen to others’ dialogue when in public. Innocent eavesdropping can make for great writing inspiration. When you are in a public place like a mall, restaurant, or movie theater, listen for interesting lines people say. Write them down and use them in your next story. For example, if you overhear a couple fighting, you might write down a couple of lines to use in your own story. If you write about current events and you hear someone passionately ranting about politics, jot down some of their lines to revisit later. You could write a post either agreeing or disagreeing with their point of view, for instance. Keep in mind, if you’re obviously listening in on someone else’s conversation or argument, it could seem creepy. Try to be subtle—don’t stare or lean in closer so you can hear better. Also, if the people around you start to seem uncomfortable, it’s probably a good idea to take the notes you have and move to another location. Remember, it’s about finding inspiration, not copying their conversation word-for-word.
Stimulating Your Creativity
Try word association to get the ideas flowing. If you’re feeling really stuck when you sit down to write, try a word association exercise to help engage your imagination. Open a dictionary, pick a word at random, and write down everything that comes to mind on the topic. This can be a good way to loosen up before you start writing, and you might even find a story idea as you’re reading through the list of words you came up with. Choose something like “freedom,” and write everything that reminds you of freedom, such as birds, flying, or open sky. If you’re writing a report, do word association with the topic you want to write about. This can help you narrow down the focus of your paper before you even start researching. For instance, if you’re assigned to write about Abraham Lincoln, you might write words like “top hat,” “penny,” “Lincoln memorial,” “assassination,” “John Wilkes Booth,” “Gettysburg Address,” “Emancipation Proclamation,” and “Lincoln-Douglas debates.” Then, you might choose the area you’re most interested in as your topic.
Freewrite to generate ideas. Freewriting helps you get words on the page, regardless of theme or intention of the piece. Choose a topic, open up to a fresh page, and write. Don’t worry about what you are writing, just focus on filling the page. You can come back to your writing and expand upon it later, or do this just get the gears turning for your next piece. Write a narrative or free associations. You can write for a certain amount of time or until you fill up a certain number of pages. This is your choice. For example, you might choose to write about tigers. Write everything that comes to mind about tigers, such as when you saw them at the zoo when you were 5, or what it would be like to be a tiger in the jungle. You could use this for a blog post on tigers, or simply to get ideas for your new novel.
Listen to music to think of new ideas. Music can help you concentrate, and it can also inspire your creativity, allowing you to think of new ideas. Turn on your favorite music, or try a new genre, like folk, classical, or instrumental. Then, think about your writing while you listen to the music, and jot down any ideas as they come to you. If you find that the music helps you focus, you might want to listen to it while you’re writing, as well. Use headphones for an intimate listening experience, or turn up the volume on your home speakers.
Use writing prompts to get you started. Writing prompts help you get focused when you are lacking ideas. Look online or ask a teacher for a list of writing prompts, then choose one that interests you. Write down the prompt, then set a timer for 30 minutes, and write down whatever comes to you during that time. After the 30 minutes are up, go back and polish up what you wrote. Feel free to set your timer for shorter or longer time increments. Use these prompts to write a poem, short story, article—whatever inspires you. Writing prompt ideas include “The best day of my life was…” or “Write about the color black.” EXPERT TIP Julia Martins, Content Manager Julia Martins, Content Manager BA in English, Stanford University Julia Martins graduated from Stanford University in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in English with a focus in Creative Writing. Julia also received Honors in Feminine, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. During her time at wikiHow, Julia managed the Article Summary project, which summarizes our articles for smart devices. She also hired editors who help produce comprehensive, well researched articles on wikiHow. Julia Martins, Content Manager Julia Martins, Content Manager BA in English, Stanford University Julia Martins, creative writer, adds: "You can find great writing prompt generators online, ask a friend for a subject to write about, or find something in the room you're in and imagine where it came from. Don't worry about writing a perfect story, or sticking to the writing prompt exactly – remember that these prompts are just there to help you get your creative juices flowing!"
Write about your hobbies and interests. When you’re trying to come up with something to write about, it’s often a good idea to start with something you’re familiar with already. For instance, depending on your hobbies, you could write about sports, art, animals, travel, medicine, cars, people, or anything else that strikes you. The things you already love can be inspiration whether you’re writing fiction, a report, a blog post, or anything else! For a fictional story, for instance, you might imagine spending the day with your favorite sports hero, then turn that into a story. If you want to write a blog post, expand upon your favorite recipe. Describe the ingredients you use, give specific instructions, including the cooking time and temperature, and tell the readers why you like the dish. For a nonfiction piece, write a biographical account of a backpacking trip you took, or talk about the history of a painting you really love.
Reflect on a past memory or event for ideas. Writing about past experiences is a great place to find inspiration. Since it’s something you’ve actually lived through, you’re the best person to write about all of the events, emotions, and backstory behind that experience. Spend some time reliving the occasion in your mind, then try to tell the story in a way that it paints a vivid picture of what you went through. For instance, you might write about a time when you were feeling blue, then out of nowhere, one of your friends did something really nice for you. You could also write about something upsetting, like a time you didn’t get something you really wanted, or the loss of a loved one. To give the piece depth, though, try to include a lesson that you learned from the experience, like being grateful for what you do have, or the importance of spending time with the people we love while they’re still with us.
Write from various perspectives, like animals and inanimate objects. Instead of writing from your perspective or the perspective of another human, try taking on the point of view of an animal, insect, or object. Think about what they would think, feel, hear, or say, and use these as inspiration for the direction of your piece. For instance, you might write a love story, but told from the perspective of a household item, like a stapler or a thumbtack. Try telling the story of a personal milestone, like your first day of school, from your pet dog or cat's perspective.
Using Books or Stories for Inspiration
Find a news story for inspiration. If you can't think of a topic to write about, open up a newspaper or read the news online. When you find an interesting headline, read the whole story closely. Think about the big picture behind the story, and use that to help inspire what you want to write about. If you write a blog about technology, for instance, you might start each day by reading up on the latest tech news. If you see a story about a new technology in development, a change in policy that could affect tech startups, or a scandal that could potentially hurt a big player in the industry, you could write a blog post discussing the implications of that story. If you’re writing fiction, you could expand upon the story by writing your own take of what happened.
Read a book, blog, or magazine for new ideas. One of the best ways to find inspiration for writing is to read constantly. Not only will reading help you learn new things, but seeing what inspires others may inspire you. In addition, frequent reading will help improve your own writing, because you’ll naturally start to mimic the style of other successful writers, whether you’re writing for an online publication or you want to publish a novel. Read works by writers you love or hate, or by writers you’ve never heard of. What really matters is that you’re reading. Find a magazine on a topic you are interested in, and skim the pages. For instance, you might open up a copy of National Geographic and look for a new discovery. Poetry can also be a great source of inspiration. Try reading one of your favorite poems, but look at it from the perspective of a writer, rather than just a reader.
Watch a movie for inspiration. If you need ideas for something to write about, watch a movie, but keep a notebook nearby, and try to avoid getting lost in the plot. Instead, look for characters to build off of, dialogue to work with, or landscapes to set your stories in. Then, use these elements to write your own story or novel. Movies can also offer great ideas on dialogue, characters, or scenery.
Look at a piece of art and write about how it makes you feel. Go to a museum or an art gallery, or look at art blogs or databases online. If you see something that you really love, write down all the details of the artwork, including your thoughts and feelings about the piece. Then, expand upon what you wrote in a short story or poem. When you find a piece of art that speaks to you, it can engage your imagination, giving you a world of new ideas to write about.
Try creating "blackout poetry" from a page of text. Select a page from a newspaper, magazine, or book and grab a black permanent marker. Glance at the page, and look for words that strike you. Make a line through the words you don't want to use with your marker, leaving just a few words. The remaining words make up your poem. You can experiment with blacking out many words to make short poems, or only blacking out some words to make longer poems. You can write a broad narrative using nouns, verbs, and adjectives, or create a more coherent story using words like "is," "of," and "the." This creative exercise can help inspire you to create more written work, or you might decide you want to dedicate more time to crafting blackout poetry.
Beating Writer's Block
Set a deadline for your writing if you need extra motivation. Sometimes it’s easier to find inspiration when you’re under pressure. If you don’t already have one, make yourself accountable by setting your own deadline. Then, push yourself to keep that deadline, no matter what happens. Set the goal to write 1,000 words a day, one article a week, or one poem a day—whatever works for you and your writing style.
Exercise to stimulate blood flow and generate ideas. Exercise boosts brain activity by increasing blood flow, which is helpful when looking for inspiration to write. Giving yourself a break to get moving can also help your subconscious make connections, so when you are finished you may find that you’re full of fresh ideas. Try running, swimming, cycling, or yoga. You could also play a sport like tennis or soccer.
Write every day to keep the inspiration flowing. Once you start writing, it’s easier to keep going if you continue doing it every day. Usually, you’ll notice that new ideas come to you more easily, and the writing process itself will often go more smoothly. Try to write at the same time every day, since that will help you stick to a regular schedule more easily. If you want to run a marathon, you know you need regular exercise to get your body into shape if you want to succeed. Writing is the same way, except you’re training your brain instead of your body.
Meditate for 5 or 10 minutes to clear your mind. Take deep breaths, focusing on your inhale and exhale, and try to clear your mind as much as possible. By relaxing, you can reduce your stress and increase your focus. Then, when you come back to your writing, you’ll likely feel sharper and more attentive. Meditation is a great way to get in touch with your subconscious, so it might help you break through if you’re struggling to put the pieces of a story together.
Immerse yourself in nature to find peace and inspiration. Spending time outdoors is a great way to stimulate your creativity. When you visit nature, you’ll often feel more connected to the world around you. In addition, the peaceful sights and sounds can give you the space to reflect, allowing you to get a focus you might not have when you’re stressing about a blank page. Go for a walk or hike in a nearby park. While you’re there, focus on the trees, landscape, and animals. You can also visit a local zoo or aquarium, or just sit in the grass outside your home, watching birds and bugs that go by.
Daydream to gain a new perspective. Sometimes, the simplest thing you can do to get inspiration is just to let your mind wander. Find somewhere quiet, close your eyes, and let your mind go wherever it wants. Allow yourself the time to think about something totally new, or revisit an idea you couldn’t quite put together the last time you were writing. Focus on the images that arise rather than associating words with them. Think about that interesting character you sat next to in the airport. Imagine what their life is like. Where do they live? What do they do for a living? You could also contemplate what it would be like to be an insect. Think about what it would be like to live in a hive, what you might do all day, and how strong you would be.
Join a writing group to find like-minded people. Discussing work with other writers is helpful because it can help you think of new subjects to explore. You can also receive feedback for your previous work, so you can expand upon. Search for writing communities in your area, or gather peers interested in writing. Meet up at a local coffee shop or cafe and discuss your writing ideas. Exchange work for feedback.
Learn about your favorite writers and their writing habits. Some writers always write in the same location, while others have routines that they go through before they write each day. By researching the habits of some of your writing role models, you might be inspired to find a new approach that will work for you. For example, Ernest Hemingway used to write first thing every morning. Kurt Vonnegut used to do sit-ups and push-ups in between his writing.
Start writing a new story if you are stuck. Sometimes a fresh start is all you need to get the creative gears turning. If you just can’t figure out what to do with one story, turn your notebook to a new page or open a new word document and work on something else for a little while. Instead of writing your autobiography, for instance, you might write about an interesting man you met in the supermarket. If you are stuck on the ending to your murder mystery, try writing an inspiring account of your hero.
Experiment with different writing mediums. If you write in the same style all the time, you can get stuck in a rut, making your writing feel flat and uninspired. To counteract this, try writing something totally different than your normal style. This will help stretch your creativity, which may help you come up with new inspiration for your regular work. If you have been working on a novel, for instance, try to write a poem instead. Try writing a short story if you normally write long-form blogs.
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