Subject Selection
Tip Of The Day — Day 14– Brainstorming ideas
This is part of a series of daily tips for writers which is published to share ideas and suggestions on our craft. Everyone will have different advice on how to write, so the tip below is just a personal selection which I hope you will find useful, and do share any of your own in the comments.
Brainstorming
If you are stuck for ideas, brainstorming on your own or better still with one or more friends is a good way to generate them. It is a technique used by newspapers where journalists get together to come up with ideas for stories. When throwing ideas around, the technique is to generate lots of them without any evaluation of the sometimes random, bizarre things that get suggested, and keep them flowing. Make it fun, fast and funny. Coffee and doughnuts may help! Notice which ones raise the best laugh.
Evaluation is the second stage where you sift the suggestions and pick the best ones, the ones grounded in some sense of reality, rather than the completely off-the-wall ones that often emerge. Again, evaluation can be done alone or as a group.
Trending News
It can be worth watching out for what words or issues are trending on social media, and keeping an eye on the newspapers for a story which you can develop or give your own spin. Get a feel for the Zeitgeist, the latest buzzword or viral story.
Pop picking
When choosing stories it is important to think about what readers will be interested in, or you will end up writing into a vacuum. Sadly what works is not always worthy and educational material. Celebrities have a huge following. Stories about crime or cryptocurrency seem popular. Even better stories combine several popular themes, such as a celebrity scammed in a cryptocurrency fraud, or who has taken up learning sea shanties.
People like humour: funny stories they can share, and occasionally one of these will go viral. If you are really stuck, pets with unusual abilities, court case reviews, sports reports, or new health cures are a fallback if you are really desperate. People also seem fascinated by new fad diets or wellness advice. Or ten ways to retire before the age of thirty (writing for Medium not included).
Human interest
Giving a story human interest can make it appealing, such as an interview with someone who has done something out of the ordinary. Exploit your contacts ruthlessly, for example, if a friend of a friend has just travelled overland to Australia, run 26 marathons in 26 days, or parachuted off a building for charity, even better if they survived.
Ask Alexa
Another option is to ask AI to generate ideas, for example asking Open AI ChatGPT (other bots are available) to suggest twenty articles about bog snorkelling in North Wales, or ferret fancying in West Yorkshire, though personally I have decided to avoid the use of AI, as overall it can be the writer’s enemy rather than our friend.
The cut-up technique
You may even try the aleatory literary technique, also known as the ”cut up” technique, where you pick some phrases at random. The pop star David Bowie wrote some of this songs in this way, as did William S Burroughs. It also seems to be used by Liz Truss in any of her speeches.
Having selected your subject, that was the easy bit. Now you just have to write the damn thing!
I hope you found this article useful, and do share any tips of your own in the comments.
Previous tips:
Day 1- The Notebook
Day 2 — Mind your language — learning new words
Day 3 –Quotations
Day 4 — Dictionary and thesaurus —
Day 5 — Location —
Day 6 — Planning —
Day 7 — Reverse engineering success —
Day 8 — Choosing your subject —
Day 9 — Do your own research —
Day 10 — Niches for Riches —
Day 11 — Layout —
Day 12 — Deadlines —
Day 13 — Making time —