Do you need short story ideas?
If a writer tells you they’ve never had writers block, don’t believe them. We all have moments where we feel stuck on how to begin something new. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new writer, or if you’ve been writing for forty years. I would bet you that even someone as prolific as Stephen King has had moments where he wasn’t sure if this was something he could do or not. That self-doubt is part of being a writer.
Just the other night, Elton John was on The Tonight Show — THE Elton John — talking about how, even after all of these years of being A FREAKING SUPERSTAR, he still struggles with anxiety and self doubt. He stated it simply: “If you’re a creative artist and you don’t have doubt before you do a new project, then you’re not a creative artist.” So if Elton John can admit to moments of feeling like a fraud, then I would say the rest of shouldn’t worry about it so much. Let yourself feel that anxiety, then KEEP WRITING. Because that’s the thing that separates the writers who write and the writers who just talk about wanting to write. If you want to be a writer, you’ve got to actually DO THE WORK.
Which brings us back to the question: what do I do if I don’t have any creative ideas? How do I come up with short story ideas? How do I come up with book ideas? Well, here are 5 Things I Do When I Need to Come Up With My Next Story:
Morning pages. These were popularized by Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist’s Way. Every morning you wake up and immediately stream of consciousness down for 30 minutes. Don’t judge yourself and don’t even think about what you’re writing. Just write and see what comes out. Later, look at those morning pages and see what you can pull out of them. I bet you’ll find a few ideas for short stories.
Go for a walk. So many of my best story ideas have come to me when I was moving my body.
If you’re interested in writing romantasy, writing romance, or writing fantasy, you cannot go wrong with my new book, Write a Romantasy: 99 Prompts to Write a Tale of Heart and Heroism. Every prompt in the book will give you multiple ideas for new stories—or if you’re already writing but you get stuck and don’t know how to continue your story, these writing prompts will help you move forward and get to the words “The End.”
Read a book that you love. We all started writing because we love books, right? Go back to that original inspiration, it will help you access the creative portion of your brain. Remind yourself why you love doing this.
Brainstorm with a friend. Sometimes it helps to talk through our ideas. Being forced to articulate a story and talk about why you find it interesting will help you see the story in a new way.
Most importantly, don’t give up. You have stories to write—and no one else can write them except for you. Be brave. Go write your stories.