5 Creative Ways to Generate Infinite Writing Prompts

Writer’s block? What’s that?

Ok, I’ve been there initially; where writer’s block hit me. It was when I just started freelance writing. But after writing regularly, I discovered some amazing techniques to kick any writer’s block out of my sight. I’m so overwhelmed by ideas now that I can write a book of ideas in a month.

It’s no magic. But just plain logic. You’ve heard it often that, to be a writer, you have to write every day. I too agree with this. I even tried to write 1000 words every day but not all publish worthy. But it helped me clear the mind’s channel to allow fresh ideas to flow. Even now I can at any time bang 1000 words about a topic I know in 10–15 minutes. I’m showing you five easy ways how you can do it too.

1. Write about a childhood memory.

Each of us has had a childhood. You can write about a family trip, a harsh lesson learned, a warm fuzzy feeling, your first crush, your best friend, a dream, a cool breezy evening, a hot summer afternoon, a rainy monsoon night. Got the feel? Good. Something you have experienced in the past makes for a good write-up.

I credit this idea to Anne Lamott who introduced me to this idea in her book, Bird by Bird. It opened up the world of writing for me, in the sense that it melted the iceberg of blank page syndrome in my mind.

2. Imagine you’re writing a comprehensive guide.

I recently started an affiliate website and when I wondered what to write, I got this idea. I thought I’d write a comprehensive guide. I could write down individual chapter names in a few minutes. In each chapter, I could further break it down into sub-topics. Each subtopic can be a separate blog post. For example, if you have a website about some service or Product X. Chapters can be as below. — Intro — Different things to consider when buying product X. — Pros/Cons of product X — Models available under Product X — Common problems and resolutions using Product X. — Alternatives to Product X, and so on. So the topics are literally endless.

3. The one thing around your home.

You’d have stuff around your house. Pick one thing and write about it. Why you need it? Why you bought it? Or why someone gifted it. What do you like about it? What you dislike about it? The thing is you don’t have to think too hard to get those words out. It should just flow. What’s in front of you? Just choose one. Don’t waste time thinking about what to write on. It can even be your car keys or the home itself.

4. Write down 10 ideas

Write down 10 ideas, or at least 5 or 20. But it should not be very easy on your mind. Make it a little hard, so you get a little uncomfortable. Your brain needs that stretch like your body, to get strong. I agree not all ideas will be blog-post-worthy. But you’ll get at least 1–2 great ones if you’re putting in some effort to jot them down. Brainstorm and write them down at a particular time, sitting at a particular place every day. Or if that doesn't work, write them down through the day as and when they occur to you.

I have used Google Keep, and Workflowy and to list the everyday ideas and Trello boards to schedule my writing. Some day I write 5, someday 25. But I write. This tip came from James Altucher.

The thing is, once you continue, you’ll start to notice a pattern in your ideas. That could be your niche skill, that you want to explore writing. But how to pick a niche is for another day.

5. Use technology tools

This one is literally a rabbit hole; a maze. I’m warning you. These are my absolute favorites. Some of them list keyword (KW) ideas surrounding the main keyword and show the search volume of the keywords. And an option to download them all to a spreadsheet. They also help in SEO, so your content gets seen. I’m no SEO expert, but I know I cannot rank for keywords with high competition initially. Pick keywords with medium search volume(100–1000/month) and you stand a chance in the first few pages of Google search. The caveat here is the content should be good too. Else your page will get pushed further down. Google KW planner is accessible from Google Ads. Ubersuggest Answer the public Buzzsumo Keywords everywhere (Chrome extension) What’s my SERP (Chrome extension)

You ask “How is this going to help me?” What you’re actually doing is exercising your writing muscles, flexing your thoughts to remember things about it. Once the writing juices start to flow, there’s going to be a flood out there. Yes! in your mind. Please don’t blame me then. That’s how at least I can churn out content fast.

There is content that I will have to do a ton of research for and is going to take me time to write. But these tips are perfect for beginners and even anyone who had taken a break from writing to start writing every day and let their creativity shine. You can publish them or leave them to themselves. But write.

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