Many writers get ideas from listening to the news, reading newspapers or the internet, watching programs about current affairs, noticing topics that are trending… In fact, being alert to what's going on in the world is usually a great way to get started as a writer. Many local or regional newspapers are interested in stories [Read more...]
I find it almost impossible to read my Bible without getting caught up in possibilities. Such unique settings! Fascinating characters! So many complex themes! Idea after idea tumbles through my mind…. A mystery novel retelling the story of Cain and Abel with a modern setting. A Bible study or devotional where you can share what [Read more...]
Quite often, we'll get an idea from watching another person. It might be someone we know, or it might be a total stranger we happen to run across once. The idea could be as comprehensive as discovering something about your mother that makes you want to tell her life story, or as simple as having [Read more...]
Most people are passionate about something, or know a lot about something, and want to pass on their knowledge or understanding to others. This is one of the most common ways people find their ideas. Out of their lives, and values, they think of something they want to say, and then figure out how to [Read more...]
Yes, you are allowed to steal ideas. That's because you can't copyright an idea. And what I do with an idea might be very different from what you would do. Now, there are some common sense boundaries. If I tell you I'm going to query a specific editor about an article on an upcoming event, [Read more...]
Have you ever had one thing remind you of another? Maybe it's a smell that reminds you of a similar smell from the past. A person who makes you think of another person you know. A line from a poem or story that makes you recall an event that happened to you…. Or it might [Read more...]
Have you ever found yourself in a position where you could overhear things that were supposed to be private? You might have been standing in a check-out line while a mother and her young son had a long, heated argument about buying a certain kind of candy. The mother may have been embarrassed, but so [Read more...]
Last week, I talked about how to organize your ideas. Now I want to talk about where those ideas originate. You might ask, "Don't ideas just come?" For some of us, the answer is a loud, "Yes." There are people who are overwhelmed by a constant flood of ideas. I'll talk about that problem later. [Read more...]
I probably have close to 1000 file folder. All colours. They're in various places, including a 4-level horizontal filing cabinet, a smaller narrow filing cabinet, drawers in two desks, several Omni carts, several other movable carts with file folder spaces on the top and plastic drawers underneath, and a few file boxes. The files are [Read more...]
The moment you have several ideas down on pieces of paper, you need some files. Not a lot of them. You might start with only five or six. You can easily buy a small metal holder with half a dozen or so coloured folders in it. Mark the blue folder Nonfiction Ideas, the red one [Read more...]
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