avatarAnique Van de Put

Summary

The article provides strategies for writers to generate an abundance of writing ideas, emphasizing that the act of writing itself can inspire new topics.

Abstract

The author, a copywriter and blogger, shares personal insights on overcoming the challenge of finding fresh and compelling writing topics. Drawing inspiration from another Medium article by Nimish Jalan, the author suggests that writing consistently leads to a surge in ideas. They illustrate this with examples of how researching one topic can lead to multiple new article concepts. The author advocates for immediately recording ideas to maintain focus and recommends not overthinking the potential of ideas when they first arise, as this can hinder creativity. While acknowledging that not all ideas will be developed into full articles, the author encourages writers to keep a repository of ideas and provides a link to another article with specific writing prompts.

Opinions

  • Writing consistently is key to generating new ideas.
  • Researching a single topic can yield multiple writing opportunities.
  • It's crucial to document ideas immediately to avoid forgetting them and to maintain focus on current work.
  • Overanalyzing ideas at the inception stage can stifle the creative process.
  • A significant portion of ideas may not be used, which is acceptable and part of the creative process.
  • The author values the importance of having a diverse range of writing outlets to accommodate various ideas.
  • The article suggests that writers should not be deterred by the potential challenges of developing an idea into a full piece.

How To Find Countless New Things To Write About

You’ll never struggle to find an idea again

Image generated by author, using AI (ChatGPT 4)

As a copywriter and blogger, I’ve spent countless hours trying to come up with original, convincing and overall awesome ideas for articles. Sometimes, it was a real struggle. And I know many (new) writers don’t have a clue on where to start.

Finding inspiration on Medium

I really liked an article entitled 6 Unexpected Tips to Spark Ideas, Grow Your Audience and Write Daily written by Nimish Jalan and decided to add some of my own tips and personal experiences. I won’t be repeating any of his advice, because it’s more than clear. So don’t forget to have a look at his article after reading this.

One sentence especially resonated with me, and actually sparked the idea to write the article you’re reading right now:

“The more you write, the more ideas you get.”

Writing to get new ideas? Yes, it works!

I get most of my ideas while I’m writing. It might sound surprising. After all, I should be focussing on the piece I’m working on, and not on future topics. Yet, my brain just does what it does.

Let me give you an example to clarify.

I’m writing an article about a beautiful castle in France for a travel blog. While doing research, I stumbled upon the name of a prominent family who used to live there in the beginning of the 20th century.

The ideas start to spark!

Idea nr 1: A piece about this family and the businesses they owned.

Back to my piece about the castle.

It’s actually in the top 5 of most famous castles in France!

Idea nr 2 (or 2–5): The top 5 castles you don’t want to miss when visiting France (or why not write 4 more separate articles, each about 1 castle?)

Like many other castles, this beautiful piece of French history got damaged during the war.

Idea nr 3: Famous castles that got rebuild after the war and are now open to visitors.

Down the rabbit hole I go

I have several outlets for my articles, that’s why I jot down so many topics. I could be writing a paid article for a client, and come up with 5 ideas for my blogs and Medium.

Write them down, right now!

For me, the important thing is to write down all these ideas right away. I jot them down on a piece of paper or open a new page on my laptop.

I also have 50+ drafts on Medium, and you now understand why.

What happens if I don’t write them down straight away? Well first of all I might simply forget them… But I actually need to empty my head in order to continue working on the article I started with.

If not, I’ll be thinking about a title for idea nr 3, the research I need to do for idea nr 1, and so on.

Do I actually write all these articles?

I would love to say YES, but I have to be honest. At least 50% of the ideas I jot down will remain just that. An idea, a few words or sentences on a piece of paper or in a text editor.

But that’s okay!

Keep writing down all your ideas.

Don’t ask yourself the following questions:

  • Will I be able to find enough information on the topic?
  • Who would want to read this?
  • Could I come up with a catchy title?

Why? Because you shouldn’t care about all that when you get an idea. It’s not the right moment.

Thinking too much will stop the creative juices from flowing.

When you’re ready to write, check your ideas and pick one you feel good about. If some ideas never get picked, just leave them be.

Looking for some more specific ideas ? Have a look at this article.

New Writers Welcome
Writing Tips
Writing Advice
Writing On Medium
Writers On Writing
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