Finding Creative Writing Ideas

You probably don't know it yet, but you are actually already bursting with great creative writing ideas.

Trust me, you have enough raw material inside you right now for more novels than you could ever hope to complete, no matter what age you are or how uninteresting you believe your life might have been. All you need is a foolproof method for discovering these creative writing ideas, and you'll find it right here.

First, though, a warning. Do you remember at school how your teachers told you to spend the first ten minutes of an examination reading the questions? Well, it's the same thing with writing a novel.

• Settling on the first idea that drifts into your head could be costly if it later turns out to be the wrong idea. You could face months or even years of wasted work - and I should know because I've done it.

• So, don't rush into a decision. As this section shows, creative writing ideas are actually simple to find, and not that time-consuming to find, either - unlike writing the novel, which will most likely take you years.

• It makes sense, therefore, to wait for the right idea to come along (you'll know when it does), and not to settle on second best for the sake of another day's or another week's searching.

Of course, there is another potential problem here: being so cautious that you never commit to anything...

• Yes, you'll know when the right idea comes along (the infinite possibilities it contains will keep you awake at night with excitement).

• But you still need to make that decision to go with it - to dedicate a significant chunk of your life to it, effectively. And that takes courage.

But Where to Start?

Well, the first thing you will want to know is what it is you're searching for, exactly. You can read What Are Novel Ideas? to find out.

And while we're dealing with the basics, you might be wondering where all these Novel Ideas you're about to magically discover are hiding. Where Do Novel Ideas Come From? reveals all.

A Two-Step Plan for Finding Creative Writing Ideas

Okay, it's time to roll up your sleeves and get down to the nitty-gritty of finding some novel ideas. Winning ideas for creative writing might seem elusive if you have already racked your brains and come up with - well, not much. But if you go about it calmly and logically there is really nothing to it...

• First up is Step 1: Brainstorming for Writing Ideas. I don't mean general, wishy-washy brainstorming, but something much more focussed and productive. At the end of it, you should have plenty of concrete ideas for the four elements which make up a novel idea: character, plot, theme and Setting.

• In Step 2 of Finding Creative Writing Ideas, you then take all those brainstormed notes and play around with them - mixing plots with characters, trying out a few settings for size, and so on - until you find the perfect fiction idea for you.

More Help on Finding Creative Writing Ideas

As a matter of fact, even if you do believe that an idea is the right one, it is still a good idea to "road-test" it before finally committing to it. Road-Testing a Novel Idea shows you precisely how to do this.

One piece of advice you hear a lot as a novel writing beginner is to write about what you know. Does that mean that you can only come up with ideas for subject matter about which you have personal experience? Not exactly, no. Writing Autobiographical Fiction explores this in more detail.

Last but not least, an article aimed at those of you who are Writing a First Novel. There is a huge temptation with your first piece of fiction to cram into it absolutely every idea that occurs to you and everything that you know. Needless to say, this is something you must avoid.