Man having an idea!
One of the most common questions I’m asked the young writer’s in the group I run at the library is: Where do ideas come from?
For me, they come from all sorts of places!
Some of them are:
- Dreams – every now and again, I have a dream that I remember. When I wake in the morning, I think That would make a great novel!. I write down the dream and either work on it at the time, or save it to work on at a later date.
- My kids – My kids are great for coming up with ideas, especially the Green Oaks Primary School books. They will either do something or ask for a story on a particular topic. Some ideas even come from things they have said. They are also fantastic for helping flesh out ideas when I’m stuck.
- Writing prompts – these could be prompts I see online, or even the ones I set the kids in the Young Writer’s Group. Many of these have inspired longer stories, or even been part of anthologies that I have either contributed to or are planning to release in the future.
- Other people’s stories – I get a lot of people telling me their stories, especially for the Green Oaks Primary School series! They will tell me things that happened to them in primary school and suggest that would make a good story. I jot them down to use when I need an idea to work on.
- My own experience – I have some stories that are based on my own life. I change it so it’s not an actual retelling of true events, often changing things so they have a different outcome, or even the way I wish things would happen.
- Random thoughts – Every so often, a random thought will pop into my head and I think That’s awesome!. I write it down before it’s forgotten so I can use it later, as usually these thoughts will come at the most inconvenient moments!
Ideas for stories can come from anywhere! Keep your mind open and you never know when your next best-selling idea will come to you.
