3 Ways to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing for Unlimited Writing Ideas

Writing is an art, and here’s how to unlock your infinite creativity through writing.

When I was about 0 years old, I left my Mother’s womb and slipped my way out into an open 3D universe called Earth.

Afterward, my parents announced me to the world as “ART” — which is an abbreviation of my actual name.

Growing up as an art, I like to do art. I’ve tried many kinds of it; drawing, painting, writing, hand-lettering, batik, mural, graffiti, doodling, designing, performing, you name it.

Nowadays, writing has become my favorite art. But as much as I know that writing is a magnificent art form, I’ve found that publishing them is even better. Publishing my work does these three cool things: it helps others learn, inspires others, and creates an impact on the world.

And then, we are living in a period of human history where we can spend a day on Earth 2 million years ago through a single click on YouTube because of the internet. Then, there is this modish, simple, shiny thing called Medium, where we can write and publish our work on a daily basis.

So… we already got the internet, a place to write and share our work, what is the last thing missing? You’re right, it is “ideas”.

Ideas are the reason we write. But we need a spark of creativity to bring our ideas to life and put them into our writing. Great writers come up with lots of writing ideas every single day. So now the question is, how do we get them?

How to Get Unlimited Writing Ideas

A study has found that our minds have an average of 6,200 thoughts every single day. All those thoughts are potential writing ideas, and yet over 99% of them just go out of nowhere into the deep lake of our subconscious minds.

Therefore, you need curiosity to discover patterns in your thoughts and make the unconscious conscious.

Without curiosity, your ideas may pass right in front of you, but you miss them completely because your mind is not ready to recognize them.

Here are 3 simple steps you can do to improve your curiosity and get infinite writing ideas:

#1: Be aware of your thoughts

To generate writing ideas, be aware of your thoughts. Every time you have a good thought; write it down, analyze it, and explore the idea. Then, write it in your style and pass it onto your audience.

Once you become more aware of your thoughts, you will unlock two aspects of the creative process called “idea generation” and “idea selection.” These processes will act as “assistances” for your curiosity engine.

Now, you can develop that curiosity to generate writing ideas whenever a good thought comes to the fore. By doing this consistently, you will eventually become psychologically guided to get unlimited (or maybe not unlimited, only to a maximum of 6,200) ideas every single day.

Let your curiosity fuel your writing, as your mind would just follow suit. As Ray Bradbury put it:

“That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.” — Ray Bradbury

#2: Look for inspiration

When you feel stuck or in a creative rut, you’re not run out of ideas, you just need inspiration.

Look around. Take a walk. Wash the dishes. Elon Musk’s number one source of inspiration is from showering. What about you?

Need a hand? I’ve got you covered:

• Books. A wonderful book can be a perfect relaxation aid or source of inspiration. Read a book, find something you can relate to, and jot down the ideas you get from it. It works every time.
• The internet. You can get inspiration from anywhere on the internet surface (not the deep jungle, I suggest). My personal favorites are Quora and YouTube. Next time you visit your Instagram’s explore page, notice that quote that got repeated and reposted every time. There’s a reason it keeps showing up; because it’s relatable. Write it down and generate writing ideas about it.
• Conversation with family, friends, or even strangers. Communication is a genuine sense of art. This source of inspiration will usually make thoughtful, interesting real-life experiences you can share with the world. Again, don’t hesitate to write them down first before the ideas disappear.
• Doing nothing. In a world of constant distraction, sometimes the best inspiration comes from the act of doing nothing. When doing nothing, you allow your thoughts to flow, and before you know it; inspiration pops in. Even science says that doing nothing makes us more creative.

Sometimes, inspiration can also come from unlikely places. For example, an email from a stranger promoting a homemade helium-filled balloon product inspired me to write this self-improvement article.

The point is, inspiration is always there. We just have to look. As Pablo Picasso said:

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

— Pablo Picasso

#3: Understand yourself

Another way to generate writing ideas is to understand yourself.

Know who you are and what you like (and dislike). Take a seat, breathe, experience yourself as a person with a mind. Get a deep reflective thought and self-evaluate yourself.

Once you understand yourself, it will be easier to come up with a ‘theme’ for your writing idea.

For instance, I tend to be a bit of a contrarian (not always). I’ve written and published several articles that go against popular beliefs or have counter-intuitive approaches, such as:

• Practice Does Not Make Perfect
• If You Want to Live an Easy Life, Live it The Hard Way
• If You Want to Achieve Happiness, Stop Trying to Be Happy

If you tend to be an optimist, for example, you could write about how you expressed gratitude this morning when you opened your eyes. Write them down first. Then, you can come up with a writing idea, such as, “My Personal 30-Second Morning Gratitude Practice That Makes Me Happier” or “Creative Ways to Express Gratitude for Those You Care About”.

Be aware of your thinking patterns and don’t be afraid to let your authenticity shines.

Takeaway

As a creative process, ideas are an important part of our writing. To generate infinite writing ideas, you can try these three simple tips; be aware of your thoughts, look for inspiration, and understand yourself.

Always write down your ideas before they slip and sink again into the deep-seated subconscious mind. Let your curiosity flows and your enthusiasm bleeds.

Above all, before you aim to create a mind-blowing piece or an amazing article, remember that the first thing you have to do is just write. As Ernest Hemingway put it,

“There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly. Sometimes it’s like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.” — Ernest Hemingway