Writing Ideas- Encouraging The Inexperienced Writer To Adopt a Broader View


When young writers first begin to gather ideas for writing, their ‘gatherings’ are quite often not all that extensive. That’s not so surprising, given their relative inexperience as writers.

It provides a clear signal that some proactive input is required. The teacher responsible for guiding the writing development of these young writers assumes a critical role in shining a light on further possibilities. The goal being to broaden the view of where the developing writer might venture to unearth potential writing ideas.

The terrain is vast, ideas plentiful…





So where to begin?

Here are some ways the writing landscape can be opened up and explored more thoroughly to reveal a host of potential ideas. Writers are thinkers. To stimulate thinking and expanding the vision is the driving factor here.

These suggestions are presented in no particular order. They are presented to support the growth of possibilities for young writers. Ideas are a writer’s oxygen. These suggestions are like carbon credits.

·         Listen actively to conversations floating across your day. Write them down. As well as delivering potential ideas, such conversations help you learn about dialogue. How good is that?

 

·        Take some notes. A word, a phrase, an entire sentence. Document things you see. Photograph them. Take note on things you read or experience. It may well spark a writing idea. Your notes can be explored and expanded through your writing.

 

·         Listen to stories. Listen to stories told by teachers, relatives, friends. Other people’s lives contain potential treasure and amazing story ideas. Be ready to catch these gems.

 

·         Read. Read like a wolf eats! Books are so valuable to a writer. They contain buried writing treasure, no doubt about it. Reading books sparks so many potential writing ideas.

 

·         Practice being a keen observer. As you move through your world each day actively watch, notice, record and keep your senses alert at all times. Look for changes and anything unusual.

 

·         Memories are there for you to tap into. Re-activate them. Take a little time to walk back through your personal history. So many ideas exist here. The good. The bad, the funny and the unusual moments in your life are all awaiting you,  if you are willing to do a bit of excavating. You might dig up some gold.

 

·         Plan to have some new experiences. Take a risk and try something new and different. Absorb life whenever possible to build your knowledge of life and your own place in the world. Note your responses to new adventures and experiences. Meet new people, go to new places. Ideas exist here.

 

·         Write in your writer’s notebook regularly in order to gather your thoughts and observations on the world and your life within the world. Feed your notebook with your collected thoughts and wonderings. This will provide you with a host of great ideas and potential writing projects.

 

·         Create an ‘alphabet of life.’ List the letters A to Z in your notebook and next to each letter add words that mean something to you. An alphabet of ideas forms right there!

 

·         Conduct interviews with friends and relatives and other people of interest. Use these interviews to springboard ideas for your writing.

 

·         Develop a habit of re-reading your writer’s notebook regularly. It is fun to uncover new ideas found hiding in old words. Allow your earlier writing to influence what comes next.

 

·         Consider writing about old topics in new ways. E. g. -If you have written about ants as an information texts, then you might try writing a poem about ants, or a narrative where an ant is one of the characters. This takes your writing to new places quite easily and successfully. The new idea builds upon the original idea.

 

·         Brainstorm and make lists. Challenge yourself to make lists with at least ten items written down. Each item on the list is a potential writing idea.

 

·         Talk to other writers about their writing lives. You never know when a new idea will come bubbling up.

 

‘Sometimes the easiest way to start writing is not to try to think something up, but simply to write something down- and what better place to begin than with what’s is right in front of your eyes.’

Andy Griffiths, Author


Alan j Wright



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