To a writer, waiting around for inspiration to strike down isn’t an option. Writers need to take action and seek their creative fuel. To help you with the process, we have compiled ten tips to draw out your writing inspiration.
Ways to Find Writing Inspiration
Finding writing inspiration isn’t as hard as you thought it might be. Even your everyday activities can inspire you in a way. Check out our tips on how to get that creative juices flowing:
1. Read a lot of Different Books
Stephen King once wrote, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” It can’t be stressed enough that reading is essential when it comes to writing.
When you need inspiration, spare some time to read. You can find ideas, learn about different writing styles, structure, and formatting. Try to take notes whenever you’re reading new material.
Research also confirms that reading has a positive influence on your brain. It helps you to de-stress and broadens your imagination and information, making it a great source for writing inspiration.
2. Listen to Music
The best way to bring out that crack of writing inspiration is to simply listen to music. Music can help you relax while at the same time fuel your motivation and imagination.
The melodies can shift your mood and get you pumped up for writing. You can write a piece conveying the same emotions as the songs you’re listening to.
The lyrics of a song itself can also tell a story. It can be the inspiration for topics, dialogues or scene descriptions.
Many great written works have been inspired by music. For example, Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, and This Is Your Brain on Music.
Listening to the right music can inspire you to create something outstanding.
3. Watch Television Shows
Don’t feel bad whenever you spend some time watching TV instead of writing. Television programs display different cultures. Writing inspiration can pop out during those times.
Author Kate Brady learned about pacing and suspense from cooking shows and do it yourself programs. You can observe the structure of TV shows as the scripts and stories are already completely built.
Watching television shows is like people watching in the comfort of your home. You can observe their antics and reactions in different situations. Take notes of memorable quotes from dialogues, turning them to inspiration for prompts or new topics.
4. Talk to Your Readers
If you’re a blogger or a website owner, you can always ask your audience for opinions about what topics they want to read next to get writing inspiration. This is also one of the ways to engage your readers and attract more traffic.
It’s like solving two problems with one solution!
Once readers are involved in a dialogue with you, they tend to delve deeper into your writing. They can present you with a different point of view and fresher ideas.
By communicating with them, you’ll be able to know which areas you’re lacking. Don’t let the occasional constructive criticism let you down though. Take their suggestions as a way to improve and as inspiration for your next content.
5. Write a Lot and Often
Don’t stop writing even if you run out of ideas. Try your best to write every day. You can improve your thinking process as you develop your writing. Writing inspiration is likely to occur when you’re aware of the thoughts running through your mind.
To help this process, there’s a technique called free writing. It’s a writing exercise where you write nonstop for a period of time. You write freely about whatever thoughts that come to your mind.
The results will not be perfect as there’ll be grammatical errors, broken flows, and no format. However, that doesn’t matter once you read back and explore your writing. You’ll discover hidden ideas and new concepts between the unorganized sentences.
6. Start a Blog
Starting blog a blog is a great way to push yourself and write every day. In your blog, you’re free to express your thoughts and feelings, or you can write about topics that interest you. If you gain readers along the way, then it can be an invisible push for you to create more blog posts and gain writing inspiration.
When writing online you will always end up searching for opportunities to enrich your posts with images. Along the way, you might stumble upon a few that will inspire you. A blog will also give you the media to interact and communicate with other people.
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7. Carry Around a Notebook
Writing inspiration is around you waiting to be found ‒ it can be as simple as the people passing by or nature. Don’t just ignore it. Even a tiny bit of inspiration needs to be documented.
Just like what Allen Ginsberg, said, “if the muse comes to your bedside don’t say you’ll attend to her later.”
As you have noticed, ideas don’t come according to your schedule. They frequently emerge when you’re in the middle of your daily activities. Due to that fickle nature, a notebook definitely comes in handy.
A notebook can be a platform for your imagination. You can come back to the points you’ve written and get creative with them.
8. Write Briefs
Briefs are informative documents or the blueprints of your writing pieces. A good brief arranges your thinking and gives you a distinct path from the introduction to the conclusion of whatever you’re writing.
By creating an outline for your writing, you’ll be able to see the purpose of the content. You’ll find the inspiration to expand your points, clarifying them further, and making strong connections or transitions.
To make a good brief that can help you with your writing, it should have:
- Goals ‒ the reason why you’re writing the piece.
- Target audience ‒ who are you writing to.
- Key points ‒ the most important information that grabs that readers’ attention.
- Supportive points ‒ the essential details that explain why readers should believe your points.
- Tone ‒ the attitude you’re conveying in your writing. For example formal, humorous, or optimistic.
9. Plan Out the Topics You Want to Write About
Before creating your briefs, you might want to plan out the topics of your content first. Creating a concept map can help you with your writing process. The map should include the three main ideas that a writer should consider: task analysis, thinking, and planning, then writing.
It can be in the form of mind maps or spider diagrams if your ideas have no particular order. Start with your main topic in the middle then branch out. Vertical charts and flow charts are useful if your written piece has to follow a step-by-step process.
Once you have all the points all laid down, you’ll be able to find new connections and enable you to work out a logical structure. At the same time, you’ll get inspired to find the right words to express your points.
10. Take a Minute to Daydream
Rest your eyes for a moment and let yourself drift away in a daydream. Some might say that it’s a waste of time and a distraction. But Japanese researchers have found that mind-wandering enhances creative problem-solving.
Letting your mind wander can be a way to find writing inspiration and spark new ideas. Most breakthroughs happen when our thoughts aren’t in an attentive and focused mode. The story of Harry Potter was the result of J. K. Rowling daydreaming on a train.
Daydreaming increases the connections between different parts of our brain. Researcher and lecturer, Dr. Sandi Mann explained that once your mind wanders, you start thinking a little bit into the subconscious. There’s a possibility that you’ll experience a “Eureka!” moment of writing inspiration.
Conclusion
Writing inspiration doesn’t come magically with no effort. You have to think about it and seek for it. Be an active writer, and you’ll see that writing stimulations are everywhere. We’ve just presented ten tips that can help you with the process:
- Read a lot of books
- Listen to music
- Watch TV shows
- Talk to your readers
- Write a lot and often
- Start a blog
- Carry around a notebook
- Create briefs
- Plan your topics
- Daydream
What are you waiting around for? Seize that writing inspiration now!
