how to find an idea for your next project

a note on inspiration from Sara (without an H)

A book can be about anything. I am famous within my IRL circle for loving crazy, off the wall books. My favorite genre is “what did I just read”? That’s the great thing about art - nothing is off the table. Last year I wrote an entire first draft on a concept that I formed because I incorrectly read a prompt about an “evil monsterologist” as an “evil meteorologist” - and I thought it would be funny to write a book about a devious weatherman. With that in mind, here are my tips on how to land on an idea for your next project:

💜 What do you enjoy? What do you do on a daily basis? Do you have a boring job? There are TONS of books about people with boring jobs. Do you like sports? Do you do puzzles? Do you watch TV all day? There’s a plot in there somewhere - and people will want to read it.

🌲 Go out into nature. Listen to the birds chirp, watch the cars that go by, see how many different bugs you can name. Go to a coffee shop and notice the way people interact with each other. Do you need to take your car in for an oil change? Think about what your mechanic’s life looks like. Find ways to change your routine and take notes on how you feel because of the experience.

📸 Look through media for ideas, but not just literary works. Go to the library or a thrift store and look through historical books, architecture and art collections- or even the CDs, vinyls, and VHS tapes. Take pictures of the things that cause you to pause, and see how they can work together. Your next project could be about a 1980’s jazzercise instructor.

🗯 What are you wrestling with? Everyone is going through something. The world can be a hard place to navigate, but those experiences and questions can create deep, thought provoking elements within your plot. Writing can be an exploration of a question that you don’t necessarily have the answer to. No matter the genre, written works are often commentaries on life and the many facets of it. If that’s the space you need, take the time to allow yourself to wrestle with ideas or concepts and let that influence your project.

After all of that consideration and research, everyone deals with that sneaking thought in the back of their mind: What if my idea isn’t good enough? I’m just going to be real with you: that question doesn’t matter. The only bad idea is the one you don’t like writing. You don’t have to torture yourself by making something work because you think you “should” write it. It’s like a puzzle piece - if you have to force it it’s probably not supposed to be there. If you start to hate your idea, pivot. Allow yourself to table a scene, idea, or even a plot. (But don’t delete anything! Save your work because you might connect those pieces in a way you like later.)

There’s no billion dollar idea, plot, or outline - especially not the first go. Great pieces of work are crafted through the process of editing, workshopping and fine tuning. It’s like chiseling out a piece of marble. But you can’t do any of that without the chunk of marble itself: the Rough Draft. Rekindle your curiosity in life and channel that into your next project.

Happy Drafting!

Sara (without an h)

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