One of the most common questions that readers ask writers is: “How do you keep coming up with book ideas? I just don’t understand how you can find so many different stories to write.”
I recently finished writing my third book this year and am in the process of plotting another. You’d think my mind would be blank, that my creative juices would be sucked dry, that I’d have nothing left.
Instead my mind is exploding with all sorts of ideas and possibilities. I actually LOVE this early stage where the story ideas are simmering and taking shape, where ANYTHING is possible and my imagination can run wild.
But, you may be asking, where do these ideas come from and how do I figure out which ideas to use and which to toss away? Here are a few techniques that work for me:
1. Brainstorm with abandon.
While I’m researching and plotting, I spend hours upon hours brainstorming and coming up with ideas. I have a spiral notebook handy wherever I go, and I keep a running list of any and every idea that I could possibly include in my new book. I study people, emotions, plots, and events in whatever I see—TV shows, movies, books, people I see in passing, situations I hear about, etc.
I don’t throw out anything at this point. I allow myself to list everything—even if it’s already been used, even if it sounds dumb. I scour books and biographies, and I jot down all the things that sound even the least bit interesting. I don’t hold anything back.
I unfetter my imagination and let it have free reign. I give myself permission to dream big, to see possibilities in everything, to ask “what if” with childlike abandon. Writing down one idea usually leads to another thought, and another, and another.
2. Focus on a few ideas and make them even better.
Once I have pages of ideas, I start going through my list and picking out the things I like best and narrowing down the ideas that I think might work. I try to hone in on the ideas that are more original, unique, interesting, out-of-the-ordinary, freakish, or fascinating.
I figure if some of the ideas really fascinate me, then it will probably be something fun for my readers.
After I have a narrower list, I start to say things like,
• This is wild. But what could make it wilder?
• I like this situation, but what could make it tenser?”
• What’s worse than that?
• How can I make this even larger than life?
• What’s more dangerous?
• What other conflict can I add?
3. Finally, just write.
At some point, I have to take what I’ve got and just start writing. Even if I think my ideas are boring, cliché, and predictable, I have to write.
I’ve found that the process of writing is one of the biggest keys for stirring my creativity even more. No matter what ideas I come up with before the first draft, invariably once I start writing, my ideas grow and change into something so much more than I could have planned.
When we fill the page with words, when we work our writing muscles hard, when we push ourselves to get something on the paper, then we’re able to open our imagination even further. New ideas come to life that aren’t possible during the planning phase.
Summary: “You need to come up with hundreds of ideas, toss out the ones that don’t grab you, and then nurture and develop what’s left.” ~Bell (Plot & Structure)
What about YOU? Writers, where do you find ideas? And readers, what ideas do you have for authors? Are there any ideas for stories that you wish you could see in print?
Jody Hedlund
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Hi Jody, Good post and thanks for your ideas, some of which I use. I people-watch and think about what may be happening in their lives. I also just pick up ideas as my life and the lives of those around me unfold. Experiences. And then I take those experiences and, like you, ask what if it went this way? What if I or they took the other fork in the road? I look at scripture and Bible stories and ask how to make a contemporary story out of that. I read magazines and newspapers and pick up ideas from the stories there. Ideas are like burs. As we go through life we pick them up, some stick and we can pick them off and examine them for twists, etc. Other books spark ideas. I’ll think, what if the hero/heroine went this way instead? What if he/she had this in her back story?. Not plagiarizing [heaven forbid], but using the stories as jumping off places. And in prayer sometimes I’ll feel sparks of ideas and brainwaves come to me. .
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Blessings.
Hi Diana,
I completely understand what you mean by getting ideas from other books. It’s definitely not plagiarizing! I think of it as gleaning. I read a tidbit in one book that sparks a character idea. I read something from another that sparks a plot twist. The ideas are merely springboards, a way to jump forward with a brand new idea of your own. Ideas are everywhere if we open our eyes to see them! 🙂
Three books this year? I’m exhausted just imagining that, Jody. 🙂 I envy you your creativity. I’m the exact opposite. I struggle to find ONE idea. And once I find it, I hang onto it for dear life while asking all those what if questions in an effort to make it the most fresh, intense, page-turning idea I can produce. Keep up the energy and excitement as you tackle book 3, and know that we slow writers are turning a little green.
Hi Karen,
BIG congrats on your Carol Award!!! Wish I could have been there at ACFW to see everyone and catch up! But I guess that’s the downside to attempting to having so many projects going–it doesn’t leave as much time to travel and do all those other really fun things! The other hard part about writing four books in one year is that the editing eventually catches up to you. There are times when I’m drowning in edits of various books and editing is definitely not my favorite thing! Congrats again on your award! 🙂
“No matter what ideas I come up with before the first draft, invariably once I start writing, my ideas grow and change into something so much more than I could have planned.” I’ve found the very same thing to be true of my writing process, Jody! Writing is a voyage of discovery. Even at the final stages of rewriting, I still have epiphany moments when I realize, ‘OH! I could do THAT here.”
I’m currently doing final revisions on one book while brainstorming the next one. I love brainstorming. It’s so much fun to let my creativity expand, to mull over all the different possibilities. When brainstorming, there are no wrong ideas. Which is awesome and freeing, because once I start writing, I have to be so much more critical and discerning concerning every aspect of the story.
Hi Becky!
Missed seeing you this year at ACFW! It sounds like it was super neat this year with both the reader’s retreat as well as the Lifeway tour.
I totally hear you that writing is a voyage of discovery. Next to the freedom of this brainstorming stage, that’s probably the thing I love most about being a writer–the twists and turns that develop during the writing process. It’s always so much fun to see how a story evolves!
Great post. I don’t write books, obviously, but my job allows me to write lots of children’s curriculum, programs, journal articles, drama presentations, etc. and of course, I love writing book reviews. When I am developing “characters”, you’re absolutely right; I have an initial vision for “Mr. So Big” or “Mr. So Good” and then those fellows just take on a life of their own when I begin writing their conversations.
Hi Rebecca,
That’s so true about characters taking on a life of their own once you start writing. No matter how much character development I do before I start a book, it isn’t until I actually start writing that the characters quirks and personality truly take shape.
I’m a reader, not a writer, but I think the experiences of the past 10 years of my life would be a font of writing ideas. God called us into Katrina Relief ministry 10 years ago and that brought us into contact with lots of people, ways of life, and areas of ministry that we’d never known of before.
Great plan, Jody! I’ll keep your advice handy next time I’m running on empty.
Neat tips! thanks! =) I pretty much read whatever I can get my hands on that fits the genre or theme of what I’m writing. Lots more helpful than any ‘how to write book’ in my opinion. I read for a while, then sit down and write for a while. Every day I either read a book or write my book. Or both. Taking breaks from either now and then to do some research in between on what I’m trying to write.
As for what I want to see in print? That’s easy. There’s not enough clean Christian historically based adventure romance stories out there. And certainly nothing that brings both my love of the medieval era and the early age of sail together. And in the form of a series which follows the same characters and their continuing love story for the entire series. (Already into 2nd drafts for the first two books and first drafts for another two.)
This is why I write. To be that person to take two worlds that existed during the same time period and marry them into a lush historical-based fictional world. A world that conceivably could have existed during the 14-15th century. A world where the love stories don’t end once they find that perfect person to complete them. The moment of ‘I do’ is the beginning of a new life for two people, so why should it be any different in a book or book series?