Story ideas often come to us almost out of thin air—whether from an overheard conversation in a coffee shop, or just a random thought that pops into your head in the shower. But other times, you’re ready to write a new story and all that you’ve got is the blank page in front of you.
That’s okay! There’s a number of tried and true methods to jumpstart your brain and draw those ideas out. Here are my three go-tos:
In the spring of 1925, a Dartmouth College senior named Theodor Geisel was caught drinking, a serious offense during prohibition. As punishment, he was forced out of his role as editor-in-chief of Dartmouth’s humor magazine, Jack-O-Lantern. That didn’t stop Geisel from writing, though. He submitted humor stories under a variety of pen names, L. Pasteur, L. Burbank, and, the one he would one day become famous for, Seuss.
I recently visited with a new writer over coffee. She confessed, almost with shame, “I’ve written on and off for years. Well, sort of…now I’m really trying to get serious about my novel, but I keep quitting. It’s really frustrating. How do you ummm,” she looked away, then back at me again, “How do you fight fear?”
That’s a great question, and the answer is…
Steven Pressfield, a dear friend, wrote a short manifesto, Do The Work. The title of the book actually answers so many questions. It is Do The Work, not Read About The Work, or Tell Your Cat About The Work, or Think About The Work.
I asked Mr. Steve only three questions, following the example of my typist who has interviewed Steven Pressfield before about his books, The War of Art, and Turning Pro. Both excellent books.
Oscar winners have a minute to discuss anything AND to have millions of people listen. Many use the opportunity to highlight their passions. We writers often hear about the importance of building a platform, but what would you say if you had one as ridiculously large as the Oscars?
What is beautiful writing? What kind of sentence (or paragraph, or page), makes us pull out a pencil and underline? When we see a quote on Pinterest or Twitter, what makes us pin or retweet it? There are many different kinds of writing styles, and we all have different tastes. But I think there are four things in particular that makes us all read a passage over and over again.
