How to Brainstorm Ideas for Writing

Writing isn’t easy. If it was, everybody would do it, and writing a book, screenplay, or the next hit song wouldn’t be such a novelty. Even those who enjoy writing for fun or professionally can have moments when they don’t know what to write about.

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This is where brainstorming ideas for writing comes in handy. After all, you’ve probably used brainstorming at work to come up with new product or service ideas, or maybe at home to help with meal planning, holiday gift lists and beyond. So, why not use brainstorming for writing a blog, an essay, a speech, or dare we say that best-selling novel? Here’s how you can make brainstorming work for you.

Make a list of topics you know. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing; it will turn out better if it’s something you know about. Yes, you can research a topic and blog about different aspects as you learn about it. That’s what a research paper is, right? But most people don’t want to read a research paper. Even when reading to learn, most people want to be entertained, and it’s easier to entertain when you’re writing about something you know. So, start your brainstorming session with topics you know a lot about.

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Use word association. Brainstorming can start in one place and then quickly do a “180”. What started as a Victorian-era murder mystery might morph into a modern-day romantic thriller. Play word association with different topics and see where it takes you. You can draw a word web using word association to build out a story, or maybe a single word on the far reaches of your web inspires an entirely fictitious world you build for a story. Word association can help you make a trail of words that you would never have thought to create as your starting point.

Use freewriting. It never hurts to let your mind wander when you’re trying to write. You can help to work through a block or tap into a unique way to verbalize a thought you didn’t know you were having. One thing that’s essential to true freewriting is allowing your thoughts to flow straight to the page without a filter. It’s not uncommon for writers to tap into a new line of thinking or a storyline they hadn’t originally thought of when freewriting.

Keep in mind that freewriting doesn’t have to be a disorganized mess of free-flowing thought. Sometimes freewriting is your way of putting together a story idea. You can write an entire synopsis for a book with freewriting. Start with your idea and let the story take shape. You can always go back through and make changes as you see fit, but freewriting the overall story is a great way to help to take its original shape. Hand write it, type it, or take audio notes—whatever works for you.

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“Procrastination is one of the biggest enemies of creation.”

Find writing prompts. Sometimes the hardest part of writing is getting started. You’re trying brainstorming for writing your blog post or a book, and you’ve got nothing. Search for writing prompts to get ideas. Prompts don’t even have to be in your niche. For example, let’s say that you write a sports blog and come across a prompt that ranks the best movies starring Kevin Costner. Well, he’s been in enough sports movies over the years that you could write a blog post about his best sports movies. Not only will you be touching on sports and appealing to your audience, but you’ll be drawing in a new audience that loves Kevin Costner movies.

Writing prompts can also help with writing a book. Search for prompts within the genre where you want to write, and you can quickly find ideas that will help you start to shape your story.

Draw inspiration from your favorites. Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lion King, and many other great stories told over the centuries aren’t entirely unique storylines. There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from the stories you love as long as you make it your own. Create a brainstorming notebook that includes the best aspects of your favorite stories. Make a list of what you love about the story and what you’d like to see changed. You can cherry-pick ideas from the best stories to start, add your own flare, and see where your ideas take you—before you know it, you’ll have an original piece of work that’s nothing like the story that originally inspired it.

Now that you have some ideas on how to get started—it’s time to put these brainstorming tips into action to create a book, blog, screenplay, graphic novel or something entirely unique.