avatarVeronika Georgieva

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11 Things to Write About When Out of Ideas

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

Wanting to write while being completely out of ideas is always frustrating on at least a couple of levels — I waste time looking for ideas that aren’t there, then I waste time looking for excuses to stop trying and an hour later I realize I haven’t been productive at all.

So I made a list of all the things that have helped me come up with something and actually get creative.

1. An interesting take on writing

As a writer, you definitely have some thoughts on writing itself.

I have some questions you can try to write an answer to.

How does writing make you feel? Do you love it? Is it annoying sometimes? What is the weirdest place you’ve written in? What is the weirdest thing that has inspired you?

Do you have some strong opinions on writing advice you like (or don’t like), maybe you can offer advice for other writers yourself? Or maybe you have something to say about the industry?

Take the popular “Why do you write?” and change up some words. When do you write? Why can you write?

The possibilities are truly endless. Ask yourself questions and answer them in an essay, turn them into an article, a poem, a story. Whatever you feel like writing. And if you don’t really feel like writing, just rant about that.

2. Feelings

This is pretty popular advice, but I’m including it as it’s helpful to many writers, including myself.

Remember the last time you cried and write about that — the feelings or what made you cry. Think about what has made you the angriest, the most worried or scared ever, and draw inspiration from it.

Also, again, you can always just rant.

I’m sure there is that thing that really annoys you.

What is it? Why does it bother you?

3. Growth and learned lessons

Look back on your life and think about how you’ve changed. Write about a bad habit you broke or a life event that changed a lot for you. If you have struggled with something you can explain the journey it has taken you on.

What have you done that has made you proud? Don’t forget to give yourself credit. Tell the story of it.

It’d be interesting both for you and your readers to share any lessons you’ve learned or mistakes you’ve made that have inspired change in you.

4. A topic you changed your opinion on

I find the way we change opinions overtime really interesting — I personally love reading such pieces.

What would your past self do or say that you now don’t agree with? Have you been vocal about something to later realize you weren’t right? What was it that changed your mind? Do you think it’ll change again?

5. Unpopular opinion

Sharing your opinion that might not be so popular both feels great for the writer to speak up and for the readers to find an interesting take on something.

You can also search for others’ opinions and turn your piece of writing into an explanation of why you disagree or agree with a specific statement.

Don’t forget the difference between sharing an opinion and being disrespectful or aggressive though.

6. Prove a point you disagree with

This is a pretty interesting exercise — to take an essay topic for example and write the exact opposite of your opinion and even try to prove it.

It’s a really nice way to inspire yourself and to force your brain to come up with ideas you usually wouldn’t come up with.

Well, you’d have to clarify what you’re doing as I’m guessing no one would want to publish something they disagree with, but you have more than a few options. You might try turning it into a satiric piece or making it just a part of a bigger one, including your actual views. And of course, you can just do it as an exercise or a tool to come up with creative ideas.

7. Alter life experiences

Write a story describing a fight you had with someone. But write it from the other person’s perspective. It’s really a challenge and could even inspire other concepts.

You can do that with every story in your life you could think would be fit. You can change the outcome of a situation you’ve been in, you can change your actions, etc.

8. Try a different genre

If you don’t usually write poetry, give that a try; if you haven’t written fictional pieces in a long time, try to work on one.

If you write in a genre you’re not specifically comfortable in you’d probably think even more creatively — when we have a task or a problem while doing something we aren’t really familiar with, we tend to think outside the box as we have little experience thinking inside the box.

9. Inanimate objects

Choose a random object that doesn’t mean anything to you and make up an emotional story about it.

You can ask yourself normal questions about the object and try to think of the most bizarre answers. Is that a crack on that glass? Where did it come from? The answer may or may not include aliens.

If you’re comfortable share a real personal story about your link to an inanimate object and explain what feelings are attached to it.

10. Get weird

Write the weirdest description you can imagine of something ordinary. An object, a normal interaction, an everyday routine… Whatever you can think of, but make it weird and unexpected.

Take a bookshelf, for example, and think of words you’d usually never associate with it. Then describe it using them.

11. Write about not having ideas

It’s happened to me more than once — I have no ideas, I feel completely uninspired, I don’t really feel like writing and I end up writing about that.

You can write about how you feel when you can’t think of anything; how you have handled that before; where you usually search for inspiration. Think of the most unexpected thing that got your creative thinking going and tell the story of it.

Lastly, a reminder.

Sometimes we disregard ideas because we feel they are not original enough. But that doesn’t really matter.

The chances of someone having a concept that no one else has had are minimal. So if you’re giving up on something you want to write about because it doesn’t seem original, don’t.

The originality of your piece comes from your style, your perspective, your take, etc. There are as many opinions as there are people, so go ahead and share yours.

Now go write and good luck!

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