Becoming publishable
Generating Ideas
There is nothing worse than settling down for your daily writing stint and discovering your mind is blank. With practice, however, you can have a list of ideas longer than you can possibly write.
Whenever I start a new type of writing, I find it nearly impossible to generate ideas. However, within a few months, ideas are flowing faster than I can keep track of them. What causes the difference? The mind must be trained to think a certain way and in a certain path. If you love to cook, it’s likely your mind is often focused on cooking. The sight of several vegetables will cause you to start imagining ways to combine them into one dish. Writing works the same way. I can generate, right now, a list of seven or eight homeschooling book ideas, because that’s what I write. I’m always on the watch for an angle, and a simple comment can send my mind into planning mode. However, I’m just beginning to learn to write fiction, and as I decide what I’m going to write, nothing comes to mind. I’m not yet in make-believe mode.
To get started, place a section in your notebook called Ideas. You may need more than one notebook. There should be a small one with you at all times (an electronic one will do), one on your desk, by your bed, in the kitchen…anywhere your mind is free to roam. Your master list can be kept on your computer, but be sure to back it up often.
Brainstorming
Start another sheet of paper and call it brainstorming. Write down every idea that pops into your head for fifteen minutes, no matter how silly it is. Even a silly idea might make your mind wander to a more serious one over time. For instance, if the title ‘Notes on my trip to Mars” makes an appearance in your over-tired brain, write it down. Later you might look at it and find it inspires more serious ideas, such as a children’s article on what you might find if you went to Mars, a children’s story about a new child at school who insists he’s a Martian…see where the idea takes you.
Add another page with a list of everything you consider yourself fairly knowledgeable on, every personal experience you’ve had that might be useful or interesting to others, and what you do differently from most people. Perhaps everyone wants to know where you come up with your garden layout ideas, or how you made the odd little decoration on your coffee table. Everything you know is fodder for your writing. I write on homeschooling because I did it, and had a challenge none of the other homeschool writers seemed to have—I was hopeless. So I wrote a book for people who feel inadequate to homeschool. I’ve also gotten material from my learning disabilities, my volunteer work, my lack of domestic skills, and even tripping over a turkey. Yes, with practice you will be able to turn tripping over a turkey into a one thousand word article.
Eavesdrop!
Eavesdrop shamelessly. It’s amazing what you hear when you’re listening to conversations that are none of your business. I find if I sit quietly reading, people forget I’m there, being a remarkably forgettable person. They say astonishing things, which I discreetly record at the first possible moment. Eavesdropping can lead to fun stories, or give you ideas for what people are worried about, which is material for your non-fiction work.
Don’t get discouraged if the ideas come slowly. The more you practice, the more easily you’ll generate ideas. I write a weekly online column every Tuesday morning, and although my mind might be blank Monday night, I think I dream ideas, because when I sit down at my computer after breakfast Tuesday morning, my fingers go to work without hesitation. I’ve been trained to have an idea by that moment.
Think all the ideas are used up? Read Michelle Anne Cope's great article on the problem of used ideas over at BellaOnline.com.