6 Writing Idea Generators

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I hate to admit it, but sometimes I have no inspiration to write. I know, shocking, right?

When this happens, there are several things you or I can do to get over it. I am going to share six of them here.

1) One-Word Prompts

One of my favorites is using the one word prompts given each week at FiveMinuteFriday.com. These one-word prompts always seem to turn into something, though I won’t even pretend they are always easy to write to. Knowing that at least fifty other people are going to be writing and posting about the same word in the next week helps me not to admit defeat and give up on any specific week/word.

So, what if you randomly opened any book with your eyes closed and chose a word by pointing your finger down on the page? It could work. Since no one else would know, you could always pick a different word on the page if the one your finger landed on doesn’t inspire you to write for at least five minutes the way one of its neighboring words does. Once you have your word, set a timer for at least five minutes and see how much you can write. Remember to use the word you chose at least once.

2) Written Response

Respond to an article or something you read online, in a magazine, or newspaper.  You know how sometimes you are just innocently reading something and it really gets you fired up and you want to express your own opinion about it? Write out your response. Once it is written, you can decide if you need to post it, send it in somewhere, or just let it go. If you don’t write it out, it may fester and boil inside you until it keeps you from being about to think about anything else.

3) Dove Notes

You love chocolate, so perhaps you should keep track of the little messages inside the Dove brand chocolates. I did this once because they all seemed like they could be writing prompts as I was unwrapping and reading them (and eating the contents, of course). I asked the others in the group of writers to save their wrappers for me too and got a decent list of them.  Here are a couple of examples of messages I have seen that could be excellent writing prompts:  “Because you can” and “Leave your phone behind”. Don’t these just get your mind working on situations you might find one of your characters in? Or maybe you know a true story that relates to either someone leaving their phone behind or doing something (good or bad) just because they could. Write it out and get it out of your memory and onto the page.

4) Dictionary/Encyclopedia

Use the dictionary to get ideas. You know those big ones, yeah the unabridged versions that are so thick they need a podium to hold them. There are loads of inspiring words inside the covers that you could work into a story or novel. Sometimes it is the word itself, but it could just as easily be the sentence used as an example or even the origin of the word that might spur a thought that gets the mind racing. An encyclopedia can be used for this one too. Have you ever gotten lost down the “see also” rabbit hole? There are usually ideas hiding in those holes, so look around while you are there.

What!?! Don’t you know what that means? Well, when you look something up in the encyclopedia and at the end of the entry it says, “see also…” so you flip to that entry and it says, “see also…” so you flip to that one too. That is the “see also” rabbit hole that sometimes gets so deep and twisted you can’t remember exactly how you got there. In current terms, this could be looking at one notification on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram feed and two hours later wondering where the last two hours went and why you have nothing to show for it. Anyway, sometimes those rabbit holes can trigger ideas to write about, so you should let the ideas distract you (and really get you back on track).

5) Reedsy Writing Prompts

Go to Reedsy to sign up to have writing prompts emailed to you every Friday. If you are inspired to get busy and write one and submit it within the week, you could win $50 and publication of your short story. These prompts are very good and usually get the creative juices flowing. They almost always take my writing in a direction I wouldn’t normally think to go.

6) Music

Sometimes listening to music will help you because even though you’ve heard the lyrics a million times, sometimes you hear something different in them that makes you think about something worthy of exploring in writing. It might be worthwhile to also note what song you were listening to when you got the idea for a particular piece. Keep a list even, because you might notice a pattern that you can exploit at another time when your writing idea well is dry.

If you have met me, as a writer, you have probably heard me say that I don’t get writer’s block. I do, however, get idea block. A lot. When I don’t know what to write, these are some of my go-to ideas that help me generate multiple ideas to add to a list so I can get back to the business of writing as quickly as possible.

Do you get writer’s block? Idea block? How do you get past these problems and get back to writing? Please let us know what helps you in these situations.

If all else fails, try one of the ideas shared here:

43 Ways to Find the Best Book Idea for a New Writer

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