My Five-Step Process For Finding Ideas For Future Stories
Some of my tips and tricks for building a brainstorming bank
Hello, friends, and welcome back to The Kindness Cafe! Today, I’m going to talk about some tips for finding ideas for stories that I have found helpful as a professional author.
*whispers* I know that what you REALLY should be doing is writing (😉), so I’ll keep this brief!
#1: Live life.
This is the most important step. Live your life. Have fun. Watch your favorite movie or read your favorite book. Do whatever you can to keep your mind off writing. After a while, if you’re like me, inspiration will strike.
#2: Get an idea.
This mostly happens without you expecting to. The other day, I was unloading the dishwasher when I had an idea related to a song I had just heard! Unfortunately, you can’t control when this happens, which means you need to…
#3: Write it down immediately.
Okay, here’s a pro tip: you NEED to write the idea down immediately. Even if you’re like, “Addie, my brain’s really good at remembering things,” trust me. Your brain will not remember it. And then five hours later, you will suddenly remember that you had an idea, but you won’t remember what it was. Write. It. Down.
Note: If you’re wondering where to write it down, I recently started a writing notebook, inspired by the book “A Writer’s Notebook” by author Ralph Fletcher. I try to bring it around everywhere, in case I’m inspired by something and need to write it down immediately!
#4: Let the idea sit.
After getting the initial idea, I like to sit with it for a few days and make sure I really like it. If I do, then I play around with characters and plot in my head.
But of course, getting a good idea is like finding a gold mine. You can’t let the gold just sit there forever. Which brings us to step 5.
#5: Begin the story!
At some point, you should start the story. It depends how far away from the initial idea you decide to start it — with Cecil’s Conundrum, I had no plot, only vibes — but once you start, you should have fun with the idea and play around with things! Getting started is better than staring at a blank piece of paper.
How do you find ideas? Put your process in the comment section below! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And if you’re still here…GO WRITE!😉
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Would you like more writing resources? Check out My Writing Compilation Post!
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