Let’s be
honest – we don’t have great ideas all the time. In fact, sometimes we don’t
have any ideas. Other work gets in the way, with all those memos and meetings,
or with the digging and polishing, the measuring and pouring. Then there are
the dishes, the school concerts, the potlucks for the community soccer team,
and the back of the fridge in need of cleaning. (Actually, there might be some
great inspiration there for pandemic infections.) Sometimes the many demands of
the real world can get in the way of imagining fresh ones.
Or sometimes, after writing several stories, we begin to think all our ideas are gone. Used up.
Every time we put something on the page, it seems stupid or silly. It
seems to have been said a million times already. We end up staring at the
ceiling, which is as blank as the page on the screen.
What to do?
Here are some answers from a few Inkies, as well as some story starters to help
spark a few ideas.
To start with, when I need inspiration, I read fairy tales
and folklore. Also, I read nonfiction books and articles, anything full of
cultural details and individual stories. I especially like letter collections.
I walk or run to clear my head. I amble around and take photographs.
William Alexander: “I have a very simple refueling trick. If my
typing slows to a trickle, I turn off the computer and start scribbling in my
notebook. If I run out of ink (metaphorically or literally), I switch back to
the keyboard. Chocolate also helps.”
Lisa Gail Green: “The best fuel for me, when I
seem to be writing stale, is reading a good book. It's really the best medicine
and I find myself recharged and ready to go.”
P.J. Hoover: “I find that chatting about the story, even
topically, with friends (not only writing friends), can really help kick start
ideas. Also, simple brainstorming techniques like writing words that come to
mind about a certain subject can really help get creativity going and help me
avoid the clichés.”
Keely Parrack: “I find
reading a huge help, preferably something really well written that has nothing
to do with whatever I'm working on. I just read The Ocean at the End of the
Lane by Neil Gaiman and Her
Fearful Symmetry (both of which
let me escape into totally different worlds. And today I spent two hours
working really productively on a pb while my kids went to the movies – another
great refueling trick - coffee and limited time!
“Also just get out, go
to a movie, visit an art gallery, walk in a cemetery - all opportunities to let
your mind wonder and be inspired by new experiences. And if you can, travel is
brilliant for helping you see everything with a fresh lens!”
Any ideas to add? What are some ways you refuel?
Any ideas to add? What are some ways you refuel?
For those of you who could
use a bit of a nudge this week, try some of the story starters below:
- I saw it sideways, out of the corner of my eye. But it couldn’t have been there. Impossible.
- In the last two years, here’s what I’ve determined: lots of people in New York go to church on Sunday; lots sleep in. Mike and I found the perfect middle ground and meet for pizza. Sure, maybe both of us will end up in hell, but life will taste good until we get there.
- The light was a shade of, blue? Green? It was gray, or maybe something without a name. I reached toward it.
- The present he’d given her wasn’t entirely what she’d expected. In fact, it wasn’t what she’d expected at all.
- Spring didn’t come, nor did summer. Four feet of snow at the end of July.
- She opened up her mouth, and all that rose out of her was birdsong.
- She wasn’t a witch, exactly. At least, that’s what she told everyone.
- It had no power source: I was certain of that. Yet the metal form began to rise.
