As a writer or any kind of artist for that matter, we all have weaknesses. Working out and through those weaknesses can be made easier with just a little additional help. Finding ideas for stories and articles can be just one of many so I've put together a few suggestions as to how you can overcome this particular difficulty.
How to Find Ideas for Creative Writing
by tinacollins
Writing is half the battle; the other half is made up of coming up with an idea for your article/story/novel/squidoo lens/wizzley page. Here's a few tips on how you can do that!
Creative Writing
Write Good or Die Haunted Computer Books Only $0.0 | Rip the Page!: Adventures in Creative... Roost Books | Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide ... Bloomsbury USA Only $10.69 |
Creative Writing Azrael-Hawke Publishing | Portable MFA in Creative Writing Writer's Digest Books |
Why Can't I Come up with Ideas?
Reasons for a writer's block
My difficulty has always been the inability to come up with ideas which I feel confident enough to use in a story or a novel.
No matter how hard I try I am unable to formulate a plot or even a character.
Could this be the reason why I have written so few stories and no novels?
Ideas or storylines can be given to me, but I am unable to take the idea further in my head. I am not sure whether this is a lack of confidence or experience or because my train of thought appears to be different to others.
Creative Writing - Ideas...
...& Inspiration
Ideas for Articles/Wizzley
Where to find them
Every Writer has a Weakness
Some find it difficult to write descriptions...
As a writer it is important to recognise your weakness. This could be PR, writing descriptions, plot ideas and so on.
In order to recognise these weaknesses, you must write as much as you can. Identifying those will help you become a better writer. For example, I have recognised a few weaknesses in myself. They are:
- Unable to come up with a story idea.
- Unable to write good or adequate descriptions.
- Unable to work with the use of constructive feedback by other writers.
There are very few writers who do not have a problem in some area in the craft of writing. Maybe they need to be extremely disciplined in the act of writing. Perhaps they require a rigid timetable to stick to in order to produce a body of work such as a story.
Others find writing good descriptions hard. This could be that they can see in their heads what they want to describe but are unable to or find it difficult to express what they see in words.
Writing Prompts
Burn After Writing (Celestial) TarcherPerigee | 5,000 WRITING PROMPTS: A Master List ... Munds Park Publishing | 5-Minute Daily Writing Prompts: 501 P... Callisto |
The Writer's Block: 786 Ideas to Jump... Running Press Adult | The Genre Writer's Book of Writing Pr... Harris Hume Only $7.95 | Novel Writing Ideas and Outlines Note... Independently published Only $9.2 |
Ideas for Novels
Where to find them
How to Combat your Weaknesses
Turn them into strengths
There are several things you can do to help turn your writing weaknesses into strengths. You can:
- Practice, practice, practice! Keep writing! Do not give up just because you find it hard or difficult. It may never be a true strength but it can and will improve in time.
- Recognise that you are human and that you have weaknesses. Try not to reflect too much on them; also focus on your strengths, too.
- Listen to feedback and constructive criticism.
- Learn more about your particular weakness. For example, if you find descriptions difficult, then learn more about how to write good descriptions.
You might also like
10 Ways to Keep Creative Writing Ideas FlowingTips and tricks to keep those creative juices flowing. If inspiration refuses...
How to Get People to Read the Next ChapterWhen the end of a chapter creates a natural break, how do you convince reader...
Comments
This wizzley is such a helpful resource.
The first through the third sentences to the first subheading, Why can't I come up with ideas?, considers that "My difficulty has always been the inability to come up with ideas which I feel confident enough to use in a story or a novel. No matter how hard I try I am unable to formulate a plot or even a character. Could this be the reason why I have written so few stories and no novels?"
Might it be possible for you to write some stories that then can be united into a novel?
In a way, the aforementioned technique would describe something like One thousand and one nights, wouldn't you think?
The first sentence in your introduction defers to writer weaknesses.
Does it perhaps not seem more optimistic, more realistic, more upbeat to first identify known strengths?
Thanks, I hope it helps you; will be updating it soon!
Nice ideas, I will be back to review this and put it into practice.
I usually have ideas, but I lack time. i also often have the bad idea to write about stuff that don't do well (but I loke the topic). I need, as AJ, to try and do more writing with income in mind.
I need to come back and study this page very hard. One of the things I want to do in 2012 is find a balance between writing for the love of writing and writing for income. I would rather do the former, but life dictates that the latter has to take priority :(
This is a really usefyul resource for anyone looking for inspiration