Creative writing is considered to be writing in which the writer demonstrates thoughts and feelings in a unique way, using considerable imagination to have an emotive effect on readers. Creative writing can be applied in all genres, be it fiction and short stories, or nonfiction writing. This article offers tips for generating creative writing ideas for fiction, in particular.
Brainstorm
Brainstorming is a technique you can use to help you come up with ideas for new stories. You can use mind maps to assist you with this. If you want to write a thriller, then grab a big piece of flipchart paper and write ‘thriller’ in the middle as your main theme. Next, think of everything that the word ‘thriller’ reminds you of and write it down. For example, the word thriller might remind of you Michael Jackson.
Once you have a circle of 10 ideas branching out from the main theme, take each new idea you’ve just jotted down and think of what other ideas spring to your mind. For example, for the Michael Jackson idea, another idea you might generate from this one is a storyline about a tragic death caused by drug abuse.
Consider Outcomes
In order to make your story interesting and engaging, think of the different outcomes associated with a plot you use. For example, if your story outlines the journey an underdog takes (for example a shy and unconfident young woman), and the challenges she faces, then you could think of all the different outcomes from the adversities she experiences. This could be her life worsening as she interacts with unsavoury characters she comes across, or her life becoming better if she meets someone who offers her hope.
Get Others to Help You
Writing can be a very personal experience but it need not be if you are interested in generating creative writing ideas. Get others, be it family, friends or colleagues to help you by creating a team. Give your team one general theme, such as the genre of the story and the main protagonist and the main antagonist. Then, give each member of your team ten minutes to think of different storylines that the two main characters could get intertwined in.
As a slight variant, start creating a story with your team of helpers. You can do this by each member of the team writing an opening sentence on a piece of paper. Each member then hands his or her piece of paper to the person sitting next to them. That person then reads what is on the paper and adds his or her own sentence to the piece of paper. After a few iterations, review what ideas have been created. This technique at the very least might spark up ideas for some comedy in your story, if appropriate.
Become Curious about People
If ever you’re sitting at a table having your lunch when out and about, and spot an interesting person, just take his or her initial appearance as a clue, and think of the type of life that person has, the type of people he or she might spend time with, and the situations the individual finds himself in. In reality whatever you think might be incorrect as you don’t know the person, but for the purposes of generating creative writing ideas, this exercise might be just what you need.
Image credit: Jacob Bøtter on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]
[…] The location where you do your daily writing can definitely affect your productivity. If you are constantly avoiding writing, then check that it isn’t the actual place where you write that you are avoiding. Is your room small, with hardly any light and air? If so, switch to another more airy room, where you can breath and where light comes, so that you’re in a area conducive for creative writing. […]