WRITER'S BLOGG | A Blog For Story Writing

How To Come Up With An Idea

You want to write a book/a story/a work, because the idea of saying "I wrote a book" sounds nice in your head? For me, that sentence was the reason I started writing.

But now, you need an idea.
And can't get one?
Here's some tips.

There are 3 scenarios:

1 you have a genre in mind
2 you have an aesthetic in mind
3 you have nothing.

Don't worry, I'll help you.

1.) You have a genre in mind
There are many genres out there.
To understand which one you could choose, we have to see which ones exist.

• Fantasy: inclusion of magical or supernatural elements (animals, spiritual beings, powers)
• Romance: description and development of a romantic relationship
• Historical fiction: takes place in the past, sometimes woven around historical events
• Science Fiction: including subtle supernatural elements in a reality-based world, often times set in the future
• Horror: themes of terror, fear, dread and graphic scenes (blood, gore)
• Mystery: combines elements of horror and detective cases (crime) with each other - often an unsolved case
• Thriller: complex plots with page-turners,you don't want to put the book down
• Literary fiction: a character-driven story, often including the character's inner development
• Dystopian: often compared with apocalypses, a story set mostly in the future,where everything in the world goes down, crises, epidemics, viruses, downfall of society/humanity, invasion etc.
• Graphic Novels: a story explained in pictures, similar to comics.
• Biography: written from (autobiography) or about an important person
• Memoir: written about an event that happened in the life of an important person
• Young Adult: a compilation of all genres, specifically suited for people the age 16+, basically slowly leading them into the "real stuff"
• Contemporary: often described as being gritty, realistic and dark - shows real struggles of a character, and issues in the world - war, racism, poverty, hunger, oppression
• Magical Realism: magical elements included into our real world - similar to Urban Fantasy
• Short Story: a story containing not more than 15,000 words
• LGBTQ+: stories circling around diversity, inclusion and finding yourself and your identity and sexuality
• Adventure: high stakes if a character, keeping you at the edge of your seat - most of the times connected to a quest
• Fairy Tale: a story specifically set out to be seen as a tale, mostly based on folklore
• Humor: a story written with a lot of sarcasm and irony, jokes and funny situations - mostly relatable
• Religious: written around a religion, spiritualism or other beliefs
• Western: a story taking place in the wild west of the US - around the time 1800 (19th century)
• Classics: stories that have been around for centuries - such as Winnetou
• Action: a story filed with chaos and loud moments - not a single calm situation. For example set out with explosions, heists, theft, crashes, weapons
• Fanfiction: a story written based on an existing story, character or fandom

1.1) Subgenres
If you decide to for example go for "Fantasy" you have to decide for a subgenre, maybe "High Fantasy" or "Urban Fantasy". Subgenres make it easier to come up with more specific ideas.

If you have multiple genres in mind,try to make out what genres "sell" the best currently.
(For example,you really can't go wrong with Science Fiction or Fantasy)

If you have one genre that is quite literally "hidden under a rock", don't abandon it though.
If there are less stories in one genre, the possibility of yours being one of the best is high.

2.) You have an aesthetic in mind
To build out your idea, go to Pinterest. Quite literally.
Pinterest allows you to make boards based on your future projects.
If you are looking for specific things, places, objects, look up

[blank - like the object name etc] aesthetic

This will give you more results (speaking from experience)

3) You have nothing
Go to your bookshelf. Grab a book (your favorite, any random) and read it. Read word, a line, read a chapter, read the whole book.
If you like it, take that as an idea and develop it into something remarkable.

Your favorite movie. What is the story?
Is the idea used already? If so, in what way?

Look outside. See the clouds? The trees?

Listen to music.
Do you also imagine epic scenes in your head when listening to specific songs? Just me? Okay...

DND. I can't stress that enough. Dungeons and Dragons sessions can take up to 50 hours. Record it on your phone, take notes, who knows what might spark there?

What I want to say is that there is inspiration everywhere. You just have to look for it.