Think about it now for a moment. When you’re purchasing a book, you’re most likely going to look at the reviews for a novel you’re thinking about purchasing but you’re also going to look at the synopsis.
Before committing to buying, you probably think to yourself ‘Wow, what a great idea’.
If you’re a writer or an aspiring novelist, the likelihood is you have read a book and also thought ‘Wow, I wish I could come up with a great idea or novel like that’.
The truth is, though, there are multiple different techniques you can use right now to help scale your own process for coming up with great novel ideas.
In this blog, we’ll explore some of those in detail… Let’s get straight to it.
Keep up to date with the news
I get it, the news can be really depressing a lot of the time but it can also be a great source of inspiration.
Multiple bestselling writers have stated how they have taken current events and trending stories they have seen in the news and expanded upon them. Particularly if you’re a thriller or crime writer, you have an endless treasure trove of source material.
There are also the stories that have been and gone. Podcasts cover topics like true crime in great detail that can serve as stimulation or a spark for your own idea. Listening to music can also stimulate ideas.
So, you’ve seen or heard a great bit of information that you think could be great for a novel but how do you expand upon it? How do you scale an idea into a novel?
That leads us nicely to point number two.
Asking the what-if question
These two words are an invaluable part of any writer’s toolbox for coming up with great novel ideas.
Harlan Coben, in particular, has spoken a lot about these two words in his own masterclasses. As has Stephen King, one of the greatest storytellers of all time, in his writing memoir, On Writing.
But you don’t need to be a Harlan Coben or Stephen King to be able to start using this trick effectively right now.
It is as simple as it sounds, too. To demonstrate it, let’s take a recent news piece that was global at the time of writing this blog. In this case, I will use the IT outage that caused chaos around the world as a result of a glitch in a content update.
So, what if it was caused deliberately? What if someone planted that glitch?
For full disclosure, I’m not saying that’s what happened at all. But, right there, I have got the bones of a story that I can manipulate and shape as I wish.
People-watching can be more than just being nosey
Admittedly, I do this! And not just for coming up with great novel ideas but also for coming up with compelling characters.
It could be that person who is pulling up outside of your house with your latest Amazon delivery or is walking through a town centre wearing a thick coat that buries them.
And similar to what we alluded to earlier in this blog, ask yourself ‘what-if’.
What if that delivery driver was carrying something they shouldn’t? What if that person wearing the thick coat was concealing something dangerous?
There are other questions you should ask yourself as well when fleshing these people out into characters within your own story. Below is a framework to help with that:
· Who – who is that person
· What – what are their motivations and what do they care about
· Why – why are they doing what they’re doing
· Where – where are they from and how did they become the person they are
· How – how does that person deal with adversity
There will be a separate blog written soon offering a full framework of how to use ordinary people as inspiration for the stories you’re creating.
Write what you know and draw on your own experiences
I’m a firm believer that every person has a story to tell. Most just don’t know how to tell it, where to start, or don’t believe they’re interesting enough.
However, everyone has an interesting story to tell and background information that can be invaluable in some way to coming up with a great story.
Cormac McCarthy used his experience and love as a father to help write The Road. Stephen King, in most of his stories, will include writers. TJ Newman used her background and knowledge as a former flight attendant to write the gripping debut novel, Falling.
I’ll cite CJ Tudor here as well. She frequently goes above and beyond when it comes to her experiences to help make her stories as authentic as possible. The Gathering is set in a fictional Alaskan village and to help create a sense of realism, she spent time out in Alaska to help formulate experiences that can be used in her writing.
The best ideas will come when you’re not thinking at all
You’re possibly thinking this is a strange note to end on but bear with me
Writers often discover their best novel ideas when they are not actively thinking about them, but instead engaging in passive activities such as walking, trying to sleep, or taking a shower.
This phenomenon is attributed to the way the human brain processes information and creativity. During passive activities, the brain enters a state of relaxed alertness, often referred to as the "default mode network" (DMN). In this state, the brain is not focused on external tasks but is instead free to wander and make connections between seemingly unrelated thoughts and ideas.
When writers are engaged in passive activities, their minds have the freedom to explore without the constraints of focused attention. Walking, for instance, provides a rhythm that can help relax the mind and allow thoughts to flow more freely. The repetitive motion and the change of scenery can stimulate creative thinking and lead to unexpected insights.
Similarly, during activities like showering or trying to sleep, the lack of external stimuli allows the brain to delve into deeper levels of subconscious thought, where novel connections and ideas often reside.
These moments of mental relaxation also reduce the pressure to come up with ideas, which can often be a barrier to creativity. When writers are not actively trying to force an idea, they can access a more natural and intuitive form of thinking. This state of mind encourages the brain to tap into its vast reservoir of knowledge and experiences, often leading to the eureka moments that are the seeds of great novels.
It’s time for you to come up with your next great novel idea
And there we have it – five top tips that will help you start coming up with your next great novel idea from today.
While you may think there is some sort of secret sauce, all it comes down to is consuming stories, being observant, and asking a range of different questions that will allow you to expand on your ideas.
Lastly, the best thing any writer can do is to not think at all. Engage in passive activities like walking or running to give your brain the time to subconsciously think and untangle your thoughts and findings and begin piecing it all together into a eureka moment that wouldn’t have arrived without doing the work beforehand.
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