Ideas on Demand
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Part 3 of a three-part article
by Lisa Harkrader
What do you do if you need a specific idea for a specific kind of story by a specific date? In part one of this three-part article, freelance writers offered advice on using idea notebooks, asking questions, and even whining to find ideas. In part two, we looked at making—or stealing—lists to generate ideas.
In the third and final installment of the article, we’ll talk about a few more idea-generating tricks, as well as the benefits writers gain from forcing themselves to come up with new ideas and stretch into new kinds of writing.
Play With Your Words
One year Guideposts for Kids needed a fiction piece for their November issue. I was stumped for ideas until I started playing with the word “Thanksgiving.” I came up with Clanksgiving (a Thanksgiving ghost?), Franksgiving (hot dogs instead of turkey?), Cranksgiving (a kid’s mom invites his persnickity new teacher for Thanksgiving dinner?), and finally landed on Stinksgiving. I didn’t know what “Stinksgiving” would be about, but I knew the title. And the title gave me the first line of the story even before I’d dreamed up characters: “Thanksgiving stinks.”
Order a Combo Platter
The best stories are born when ideas start bumping into each other. If you get an inkling of an idea, but can’t come up with an entire story, combine that inkling with another idea and see what happens.
To develop “Stinksgiving,” I made a list of smelly things, then combined them with a character name from my Idea Box. I ended up with a story about Gunther Puckett, a boy who livens up Thanksgiving Parents’ Night with a tidal wave of stinky water from his goldfish tank.
Take a Hike
“When I’m struggling for an idea,” says author, puzzle constructor, and book reviewer Marjorie Ellert Berg, “I go for a long walk. By the time I get home, I have a head full of ideas.”
Recent studies have linked physical exercise with enhanced creativity. And being away from your desk, without any writing tools, takes the creative pressure off your brain. I get great ideas while driving, sorting laundry, and taking a shower. It’s not uncommon for me to dash into my office and begin typing furiously, dripping wet with a towel wrapped around my head.
The Rewards
I never would have written “Stinksgiving” if I hadn’t responded to a call for submissions and forced myself to come up with a story idea. That’s one of the great benefits contests, themed publications, and regular assignments—you end up writing pieces you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of.
“I’m terrified at writing anything longer than a picture book,” says Jeanie Franz Ransom, whose books include Granny U and Don’t Squeal Unless It’s a Big Deal: A Tale of Tattletales . “So I made myself write a synopsis and 1800 words of a YA to submit to the SCBWI grant contest. It doesn’t matter whether I win, it’s knowing that I did something hard for me that gives me satisfaction.”
Stretching your writing muscles isn’t the only benefit. You might also get ideas for other stories—ones that don’t quite fit the criteria, but ones you are excited about and can write later.
There are other surprising rewards. “It’s sometimes frustrating working within strict limitations,” says Suzanne Lieurance, writing coach and author of many children’s books, “but it’s helped me become a better writer. I’ve learned to pay attention to little details I wasn’t so aware of before.”
Terry Miller Shannon, author of the middle-grade novel Nova Rocks!, sums it up this way: “Having a theme and a deadline shortens my initial feeling of ‘Gulp, I can’t think of a thing!’ It narrows the nebulous cloud-like world of general possibilities to a specific range. It’s the difference between playing tennis on a court or over an area of ten acres.”
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