Use Your Writer's Eye for Story Ideas

 

How often have you felt you had nothing to write about? You sat in front of your keyboard, hands in your lap and thought 'what next?' You're not alone. Many writers go through periods where inspiration is at a low level and the story ideas are flying off to others but not you.

One thing that helps is to be observant. To walk through life with a writer's eye. There are stories everywhere you go, but it's up to you to see them and harvest them.

Walk through a grocery store, aisle by aisle, and you'll see lots of people alone and others in a family group, or a couple of friends. Watch for interactions or reactions. Snippets of conversation. 

Waiting in a doctor's office, an airport, or train station provides the perfect opportunity to people watch. Everyone has a story, but it's your job to see it and perhaps use it in your writing. People watching can also help you create a character. 

Watch the news on tv. Stories there can sometimes inspire stories of your own, but you need to be alert and aware. And play the 'what if?' game.

The 'what if?' game is merely asking yourself questions. What if this happens or that happened? And then move on, what if this occurred next. Before you know it, a story idea is coming to light.

I once wrote a well-received children's story that was inspired by a tiny little article I read in the newspaper about libraries being used as after school daycare for working mothers, and the problems it created.  The next thing you know, I had created Wilhemina Higgins, a child whose mother sent her to the library after school every day. Boredom set in, and.... The point is to watch for story ideas when you read a newspaper or magazine. Not to copy what you read but to use it in some way as an idea for a new story, essay, or even a poem. 

There are story ideas in your neighborhood. Watch for them. Incorporate them into your writing. You needn't use a story with names and places exactly as they are where you live. But create a story of your own around what you observed in your neighborhood.  

You might hear an amazing conversation in a restaurant if the tables are close to one another. Jot notes when you leave for possible use at another time. Don't always trust your memory. Making notes is very helpful. 

Story ideas are everywhere, but it's up to you to find them and use them. Start working on using your writer's eye wherever you go. It soon becomes habit.