Use These 3 Weird Tricks to Find Creative Inspiration
Never be without writing ideas again…
Writing is fun.
Unless you sit down and stare at a blank page with zero clue what to write about. (I know all too well how that feels.)
In order to avoid this, you’ll want to have a pool of ideas to pick from. Get a Word or Notion document going and create a list that you can continuously update.
Ideas can come from anywhere, including scrolling TikTok, talking with a friend, or reading a book.
Or, if you’re still having trouble brainstorming, you can use these 3 weird tricks for creative inspiration.
1. Open a book to a random page
This one comes from a YouTube clip of Joe Rogan talking to music producer and author Rick Rubin. Rick used this trick on System of a Down’s lead singer, Serj Tankien when he was struggling to come up with lyrics for the song “Chop Suey”.
Rick told Serj to pick a book from the wall, open it up to a random page, and read the first sentence.
That suggestion turned into these lyrics:
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit
Father, into your hands
Why have you forsaken me?
In your eyes forsaken me
In your thoughts forsaken me
In your heart forsaken me, oh
In case you don’t know, this is one of the most iconic parts of one of System of a Down’s most iconic songs.
2. Listen to conversations
Listen to what people are talking about when you’re out and about. Don’t be too nosey and listen to people’s intimate details, but see if you can pick up on the words and phrases they’re saying.
I use this trick when I’m out walking. If I pass someone who’s on the phone or a couple of people who are talking with each other, I listen in just for a second to see if they say anything to spark an idea that I could write about.
One day when I did this, I heard a man talking on the phone to someone who I assume he worked with. He was talking about how “she was underutilized” and how there was “a gap in the process”.
Since I’ve had experience working in a 9–5, I could have written about how these are codewords for “this woman is about to get a bunch of work dumped on her to fill in this gap, and they’ll tell her it’s because she’s so good at what she does.”
Yup, it’s the ol’ “enough work for two people while only paying for one person” trick.
From there, I could continue to write about the “fun” of working in a corporate job (and why cubicles suck).
3. Don’t just look at YouTube videos and X posts — dig into the comments
Comments can hold a treasure trove of information and inspiration. Pick any YouTube video or X post of choice and there will likely be a range of comments under it. Scroll through and see if anything stands out to you. Here are a couple of things to look for:
People who disagree, or have alternative views
Can you use their spicy take and create an article out of it? Sean Kaye on X does an excellent job of giving alternative views on everyday topics:
You could take his point of view on the topic and write an article about it, telling why you agree or disagree with it.
Questions
Look for questions in the comments. If you can solve problems for people, you can make a great living. People who are asking questions are looking for solutions to their problems.
To make it easy to find questions on platforms like YouTube, Reddit, or X, you can hit command + f on a Mac, or control + f on Windows to bring up the find bar. Type in “?” and search for question marks.
This will show you all of the questions on that page. Scroll through them and see if any inspire you enough to create new content.
In order to stay in the minds of your readers, you need to be consistent. Having a list of ideas ready every day will help you stay on track. You can use a variety of ways to find content, including reading books, reading other people’s articles, watching YouTube videos, etc.
But if you still need more inspiration, try out these 3 weird ways:
- Open a book to any page and read the first line
- Listen in on conversations
- Scroll through comments and search for “?”
Get your ideas in any way you can. Having ideas ready every day will keep writing fun and not an anxiety-ridden chore.
About the Author
Hey! I’m Christina, an introverted book nerd on the outside, and a raging metalhead on the inside. 🤘 I’m a married mom to two teenagers (and 3 cats and a dog). I love Vegas 🎰, the band Chevelle 🎸, and murder mysteries 📖.
I also love creating daily newsletters with a short list of simple income ideas and resources. 👈 Click that astonishingly long link to sign up for free.