How to Get Endless Great Ideas for Your Novel
One of the most common questions I get from writers I'm working with about their books is: how do I decide what happens next?
In this post, I'm sharing five of my favorite idea generating exercises.
Exercise #1: The open-ended brainstorm
The first idea generating exercise is the open-ended brainstorm. To do this, you're going to very open-mindedly ask, what could happen? Anything goes.
Aliens could land or a hurricane could hit. A couple could break up. They could get back together. A whole new character could be introduced.
You don't want to judge any of these ideas, and you want to list them all out.
Don't write anything in your draft. This goes in a separate place so you're not precious about it or worried that you're committed to something.
In fact, I would not go with your first idea. I would go with the idea that, when you write it, makes you think, Ooh, that could be kind of cool, but feels a little bit scary. That's kind of the sweet spot—scary, but feels exciting to write.
And just remember the mantra that something beats nothing. We want action. We want something to happen. We're not reading a story so that we can see a character just sit there and think.
So if you're trying to decide between scenes and one of them is more active and one of them is more passive, I'd go for the active one.
Exercise #2: Agitate a current tension in the story
The second exercise is to make a list of the current tensions in the story—the ones that already exist—and pick one of them to agitate.
This is similar to the previous brainstorming exercise, but this one is all about tension. By tension I mean, what's going on in the story that the reader is worried about?
What conflict have you created that causes the reader to think, how is this going to be resolved? You'll probably have a handful of tensions that you've introduced into your story.
If you can’t think of any tension that’s in your story, well, that's good information for you to have, because you should have some tension in there!
A story needs tension. So if you can't think of any tension and everything is harmonious and going well, then you want to go back and add some tension.
Exercise #3: Sleep or shower on it
The third idea generating exercise is to sleep or shower on it. Put the question out there, enter a receptive state, and let it come to you when you're not actually sitting in front of your computer or notebook.
I kind of think of this as my superpower. The longer that I've been writing, the more and more I have used this particular method.
I jot down what it is I need to figure out, what this character is worried about, or what's going to happen between characters, and then I just let my subconscious work on it while I'm doing something else.
It's called diffuse processing, and it can be a really powerful way of sorting out what's going to come next in your book.
Exercise #4: Go experience art
Exercise number four is to go experience art of some sort. It doesn't have to be visual art in a museum, although it totally could be.
You could go to a museum, but you could also read a book. Read someone else's book that gets you excited and makes you think, I want to do this. They did such an amazing job. I want to do this! Whatever it is, get inspired by others.
Sometimes I think people struggle to do this because it feels too indulgent. They think, well, I have too many other things to do. This feels luxurious or selfish. If it is, who cares?
First of all, you live once and you're human. So go enjoy yourself. And second, it works. It jostles us out of our slump. As a writer, it's a really effective way to get some inspiration.
Exercise #5: Follow the rising bile sensation
The final idea generating exercise is a little bit weird, but it's probably my best tip for figuring out what to write next: follow the rising bile sensation.
Whenever I write something good, I kind of feel like I'm going to throw up. I mean that literally, but I also mean it in the sense that whether or not you actually feel nauseous when you're nervous, it's a nervousness that usually means you're onto something good.
You're onto something that is a little scary for you to write. It means something to you. You're not quite sure how you're going to resolve it. It feels a little bit vulnerable.
Any of those things can be true to create this nervousness, but I’ve discovered that nervousness is usually a sign that what I'm writing is my better writing. It's good writing that's going to resonate with a reader later, so I've learned to follow it. Follow the rising bile sensation.
Ready to write your book?
So now you know how to come up with ideas for your book. But what if you just don't know how to find time to write your book or you haven't written a creative word in years, so you don't feel confident?
Or maybe you're the opposite. You have an MFA in creative writing, but it sucked all the fun out of it for you, and now you feel paralyzed.
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