Finding Creative Writing Ideas 1: Brainstorming

As you probably know by now, writing ideas are made up of four basic ingredients: Character, Plot, Theme and Setting.

• The first step towards finding some ideas of your own is to brainstorm each of these four elements.

• Then, in Part 2 of Finding Ideas, you will play around with the results, rearranging them like jigsaw pieces, until you arrive at the perfect novel idea for you (several of them, probably).

To get the most out of this process, try not to think ahead to step two of finding writing ideas when you are still on the first step. The whole point of brainstorming is to come up with a lot of potential raw material, and you won't do that if you try to turn the raw material into good-to-go novel ideas too early.

Also, if you already have a firm idea in your mind of the novel you want to write, try to disregard it during this process. You might come up with a better idea, or find a new spin on your existing idea, or perhaps find a way to create a whole series of novels similar to the one you already have in mind.

Finally, take as long to find good writing ideas as you need. You might do it in a couple of days or a couple of weeks, but don't rush it. Writing a novel represents a huge time commitment (probably several years) so it makes sense not to settle on a novel idea until you know it is the right idea.

And so it is time to roll up your sleeves and get down to work...

• Take out a pencil and plenty of paper.
• Disconnect the phone and make yourself comfortable (I find brainstorming for creative writing ideas is so much easier sitting in an armchair than sitting at a desk).
• Put on some music if it helps (something which will fade unobtrusively into the background).
• Then simply fill one sheet of paper (more if you like) with brainstormed ideas in each of the four categories...

1. Finding Writing Ideas for Characters

How many people do you know, or have you known, in your life? Hundreds, right? And that includes everyone from your closest family and friends, through work colleagues and neighbours, to the lady who sells you cigarettes and the stranger you sat next to on the train.

Add to that the thousands more people you've seen on television or read about in newspapers and magazines and books, and you have a vast stockpile of character traits and behaviours and physical characteristics from which to construct your story people. Oh, and don't forget the biggest inspiration for characters of all: yourself!

Now all you have to do is take all these traits and characteristics and reassemble them to form brand new people.

Your finished novel will likely have dozens of characters (hundreds if you include the walk-ons), but all you are interested in for the purposes of finding creative writing ideas are candidates for the job of leading woman or man.

You don't need to flesh them out in any detail at this stage, or construct elaborate biographies for them (you will find out how to do that later, in the section on Creating Characters). For now, little one-line sketches are perfect...

• A forty-something waitress with three kids and debts to pay.
• A laughing, joking taxi driver with worsening eyesight.
• A sweet old lady who takes in stray cats.
• A bullied schoolboy with a crippling stammer.
• A millionaire businessman who secretly gives away small fortunes to charity.

Simply fill your first sheet with similar character sketches. You can flesh out the characters more than I have done if you wish (if it helps you to "see" them in your mind's eye), but spending too long on any one character defeats the purpose of this exercise, which is simply to trawl your memory and your imagination for as much raw material for writing ideas for characters as you possibly can.