Getting Ideas

Ideas are everywhere; the writer must train himself to look for them. Ideas, and plenty of them, are the lifeblood of a professional writing career.

Observation
Listen to people's ideas and concerns. An observation becomes an idea when it can be stated in a significant theme.
Sensory perception--using all five senses:
Listen--conversations in restaurants, funerals, weddings (eavesdropping)
Look--posters, signs, scenery
Smell--odors, perfumes, stenches
Taste--samples at the grocery store, a new dish
Touch--when shaking hands

Experience
Ideas can be drawn from the writer's own experience or someone else's. Jot down the facts of your own experience--highs, lows, turning points. Take these facts and brainstorm possible article ideas. Many of your brainstorm ideas will have been done before, but no one has experienced life in the same way you have.

Reading

• newspapers--news stories; editorials; classified ads (lost and found notices, personal ads, help wanted ads), columns and features
• magazines--expanding on a published article or concentrating on just one aspect of it.
• books--novels, non-fiction, telephone books, theses
• trade, technical, scientific, government and corporate publications--contain a wealth of ideas of the writer to see fresh ideas in dry prose

Community
Your community is a rich source of people, industries, public services, institutions, historical events or places, social programs, and landmarks.

Media
Television and radio are excellent resources for ideas.

Ask "What if?"
Imagine the best, worst, most unlikely, and most unexpected scenarios.

Try Something New
Try a new hobby, volunteer for an organization, take a different way home.

Traveling
Every time you go on a trip, bring your writer's notebook and jot down all the interesting things experience.

Brainstorm
Sit down with some friends and shoot the bull, toss around ideas, argue. Take notes.

Combine Two Unlike Elements
Things that are not normally associated together can be combined that would create something unexpected and original. Example:

a McDonald's on Mars

Serendipity
This is when you are looking for one thing and find something else that is better.

Determining the worth of an idea

• It must be interesting.
• It must be significant.
• It must meet needs, answer questions, or deal with problems.
• It needs a universal appeal.
• It must offer a fresh new angle.
• It must still be timely by the time it reaches the readers.
• It must fit the magazine for which you want to write.

Resources