What To Do When You’ve Run Out of Ideas
Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash
Recently on Twitter someone asked: “What do I do when I run out of ideas for writing? I finished my last book and I don’t know what to write next.”
First of all, as a writer, let me acknowledge that this is a scary one. To think you might be tapped out, done... this is all there is... calls into question whether you can call yourself a writer in the first place.
Some writers seem to have no problem with this. They’re bursting with ideas, too many to count, never mind write. They scribble in notebooks (or these days, a note-taking app), they abandon one project to feverishly pursue the shiny new one.
But many of us do struggle at some point with the biggest block of all: what to write next?
This can come from a variety of places:
Maybe you’ve just finished a big project – a novel, say – and you’re tired. Even burnt out. You need to take a break and re-fill the creative well.
Maybe you’re in a writing rut. You have a formula, or a theme, that’s worked for you in the past. Or you’re in the middle of a series, or you’ve been writing a certain type of book for a while, and you’re bored. Whatever got you excited in the first place no longer works its magic.
Maybe you do have lots of ideas, but none of them grabs you. You start a story, and it peters out after a few pages, because it just doesn’t get off the ground. This happens over and over, and you think that’s it, you’ve lost your writing mojo forever.
And also, let’s face it, there’s has been some crazy, depressing, traumatizing stuff going on in the world over the past few years. You may be thinking you have nothing interesting or useful to say in the face of everything awful. If you don’t think your writing matters, it’s hard to generate any new ideas or excitement.
None of these are reasons for despair. Below are some ways to get your idea machine – your imagination – working again.
Take an intentional break. Yeah, I know. Eyeroll. But this works for two reasons. One: Creativity has fallow periods. Accepting it as part of the process allows you to regenerate faster, since it’s a tiresome truth that “what you resist, persists.” Enjoy it, and trust that when your mind is ready, you will get new ideas, probably when you least expect it. Two: Reverse psychology works, my friends. Telling yourself you CAN’T write, as in, you’re not ALLOWED, for X number of days, is maddening. Our minds are contrary creatures and often when we feel deprived, that becomes the very thing we crave. Our creative selves are basically 2-year-olds who are automatically attracted to whatever you just told them they can’t have.
Play with writing again. It’s good to take our writing seriously. It’s how we get stuff done. But we can get so focused on a goal we forget what made us want to start writing in the first place. Writing becomes a place of fear and drudgery rather than joy. This can happen whether you’ve experienced a lot of rejection and don’t know if you have another book in you, or if you’ve experienced great success, and you fear you can never follow up with something as good. Try experimenting with new forms (poetry if you’re a prose writer; memoir if you’re a fiction writer; how about a picture book story?). Try some fun writing exercises, with no pressure to write a “real” story or be “good writing.” Some of my standby favorites are What If? By Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter; Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg; and Spellbinding Sentences or How to Be a Writer by Barbara Baig.
You can also try these story generator links: SeventhSactum and ChaoticShiny generate ideas of all kinds based on alternate history, plot twists, places, people... you name it. They both have “random” generators to help you find inspiration if the choice is overwhelming, like the “quick story generator” from SeventhSanctum. I got “constellations” from ChaoticShiny: “These eight bright stars form the shape of an owl. The constellation represents a prophesized messiah. It is most significant on the autumn equinox, when it appears high in the sky. It is opposed by the constellations representing a horse and a woman. Those born under it are highly independent.” What story could you write with this? Creativity is often inspired more by constraint than open-ended “write anything you want.” At first glance, these are geared toward speculative fiction writers, but trust me, there is plenty there for any type of fiction. Besides, this is all about having fun, right?
Fill the well. Take what Julia Cameron calls an Artist Date – a solo experience done for pure pleasure. This can be simple, but it should be intentional, and not something you already do every day. Explore a new neighborhood. Go to a museum. Experiment with a new art form (clay, painting, photography). Watch a movie in a foreign language without subtitles. Try belly dance, Tai Chi, or some other movement. If you’re stuck, putting “Artist Date Ideas” in a browser search bar will generate hundreds of ideas. If you’re really stuck, just take a walk. No podcasts, audio books, or music allowed. Let your mind roam with your body. It’s hard to get new ideas if you have constant input to deal with.
Reread your favorite books – or discover new authors. It can be fun – and eye-opening – to reread books we love, or loved at an earlier point in our lives. Some stand the test of time, others are simply reminders of who we were then. I’ve loved rereading Dorothy Dunnett’s The Lymond Chronicles, which I first read in high school (and a couple of times since). Every time I go back to them, I get new joy and inspiration from them, and get a masterclass in writing craft. Or you can explore new authors. Go to a library or a bookstore and ask a librarian or bookseller for recommendations – or just what is their favorite book. My local library has a service where they will fill a bag of books based on some general criteria and you get to take them home and see what you might have been missing. (Note: it’s okay to not finish any that don’t grab you).
Travel – in person or vicariously. Exposing your mind to new places and ways of doing things is one of the best ways to get out of any kind of rut. If you don’t have the money or time to jet off to Paris, or Timbuktu, you can always pick a place within driving distance and explore it for a day. Walk the streets, enter the shops, go on a nature walk, and pretend you live there. Who are you? What do you do for a living? Or go to www.tripfiction.com to get a curated list of books in all genres that take place in a particular location around the world for a vicarious travel experience.
What are some of your favorite idea-generating activities? Let us know in the comments!
