Many times, inspiration can come from the most random of things, but other times, it feels like inspiration for our writing is just dry. Writer’s block often hits us at the worst times or the most random times, and sometimes, we’re overflowing with ideas. For those moments when we feel like we have no ideas whatsoever, there are actually many ways we can draw inspiration for our stories as writers. So, for today’s post, we’ll be taking a look at how to find inspiration for your next book from a number of sources you may have never thought of before.
Think About Your Own Life
One of the best ways to find inspiration for your next book is to actually think about your own life and your experiences in life. You can draw on your past experiences like moments of happiness, moments of hardship, etc… and infuse that into your story. Even if you’re not writing something directly about yourself, you can use your own experiences and background to create the story that you want.
A lot of writers use writing as a way to channel their emotions and as a coping mechanism to deal with hardships in life, and that’s another great way that you can find inspiration and utilize your emotions to craft an interesting story.
You obviously don’t have to insert yourself into the story, and I don’t really recommend that people fully insert themselves into characters, but it’s great to try and take from your experiences and emotions to craft an interesting and compelling story.
Draw From Your Interests
I personally find myself really engaged and interested in history and learning about how different civilizations functioned in their time periods. I also really like to learn about different empires and the way life was like in them. For me, I draw a ton of my inspiration from the history and mythology that I read about (I recommend this for fantasy writers especially) and I really enjoy taking ideas from history and crafting a story around them. Sometimes, I even draw from historical figures to create my own characters because I really admire the way a historical figure was or acted.
If you have a special interest–and it doesn’t have to be history–then draw from that special interest and try to include it in your own story. If you want, you can also think about things that intrigue you or things that you think about frequently. Maybe you enjoy philosophy or you enjoy medicine and biology. Whatever you think fits your interests, take a look towards that for inspiration for your next book.
Inspiration often comes from a willingness to explore new ideas, ask questions, and embrace curiosity. What fascinates you? What are you curious about? Allow your mind to wander and follow the threads of your interests.
Explore Different Scenarios
Sometimes, a great story idea can come from the idea of “what if” questions. Alternate history is really good with these things, and if you want to learn more about how to write an alternate history book, then check out this post. In regards to speculative fiction as well, you can ask these sorts of questions because you think about worlds that are different from ours in the fundamental components.
The idea of “what if” scenarios are definitely great for inspiration because the idea of something that isn’t existent can really stimulate the production of some great ideas.
Read Other Books
I think another great way you can find inspiration for your own stories is to actually get out there and read books. Most authors are also readers for a reason, not just because we love stories, but because we also sometimes need to stimulate our minds with things that can help jog our idea bank in our heads.
If you enjoy writing within a certain genre, maybe give books outside that genre a chance. I personally have written up lists of books that I think are definitely great if you want to check out things to read, so go give those lists a look.
I think what’s great about reading other works is that you can get a sort of glimpse at how other writers came up with ideas. Obviously, you don’t want to literally steal anyone’s ideas because that’s wrong, but you can use other stories as a way to step off and try to form an idea of your own. It’s just like taking inspiration from anything else, but you want to obviously make it original to you and don’t just copy what another writer has done.
Take a Look at the World
Inspiration can also come from literally anything in the world that you see out there and that’s one way I’ve personally drawn a lot of information. If you look at the news, go outside and observe how people live, and just observe the world around you, you might be able to find some inspiration from the things that you see.
Being amongst nature is a great way to come up with great ideas because you can clear your mind from the noise around you and just focus on how your story feels to you.
Dreams
I have done this before, and I’m sure you can ask other writers and they’ll agree: Dreams are often a great source of inspiration, even if you’re not sure if they make any sense. Our mind sometimes doesn’t really stop thinking, even in sleep, and you may come up with some great ideas while you’re dreaming that you’ll remember when you wake up.
One thing you can do is to keep a journal next to you for your dreams. When you first wake up, try to write those dreams down if you feel like they can inspire you and then use some of these things in your writing.
There is actually a scene in Soldat, book 2 of my series, The Fallen Age Saga, where I had actually thought of the scene in one of my dreams and remembered it and then wrote it down when I woke up. It can happen and it can be a great source of inspiration!
Your subconscious mind can be a treasure trove of inspiration. Dreams often present strange, surreal narratives that don’t always make sense—but they can offer powerful imagery and emotional resonance for your writing.
Collaboration Can Help!
Writing is often a pretty solo-run activity and you pretty much do everything by yourself. However, working with others can sometimes help. You don’t have to write your book with other people, but you can at least try to brainstorm and come up with concepts with other writers, your friends, or someone that you know has a lot of creative ideas.
One way you can do this is to try and find a writing group in your area where you can collaborate with others and get feedback on your ideas and share inspiration. Another way is to find a writer friend and try to bounce off ideas with that person, since they are likely to understand where you’re coming from more.
Use Writing Prompts
Writing prompts are some of the best ways to jog the brain a bit when you need some inspiration. Writing prompts are available all over the internet and in many books out there. They help to challenge your brain, make you think of ideas, and can actually form a great foundational concept for your story. I find that writing prompts can help if you just want a concept but you obviously don’t have to stick to that concept once you’ve actually started writing your story.
Writing prompts are also helpful as a sort of writing exercise. You can take 15 minutes to just use a writing prompt and freewrite whatever comes to mind based on that prompt. This may actually jog your inspiration train and help you start thinking about what your next story will be. You might also find that this freewrite is your next idea!
Writing Challenges
You might’ve heard of something called NaNoWriMo and this is one of the biggest international writing challenges out there. NaNoWriMo is a month-long writing challenge where you are supposed to write a book that includes 50,000 words. Obviously from there you can add words to make it a full-length novel, but the idea is to write 50,000 words in just one month.
The challenge is great because there are so many people around the world every year that get together to actually do it. Now, there’s no “prize” for winning this, but participating might push you to actually come up with ideas.
NaNoWriMo also has two other challenges called Camp NaNoWriMo, which is basically a custom challenge you set for yourself to complete instead of the traditional NaNoWriMo. If you want to learn more about NaNoWriMo, check out this post!
Conclusion
Ultimately, I think that finding inspiration is not something that can be forced. It’s definitely something that just sort of happens when you’re out and about in your life. You may find yourself in a period of writer’s block, and I have a post about how to overcome that, but I think ultimately, if those things don’t help you, then you need to just let your mind run its course. Forcing your brain to think may not help you find the inspiration you need for your story, so it’s important to sometimes take a step back and just do something else. Trust me, you’ll find that your inspiration is jogged once you just disconnect from the concept of writing your story.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on all my latest WIPs, book releases, posts and more!