One of the nice things about writing is that we all know something about something. Everyone has knowledge about topics and activities that can be used to either create a story, enhance a story, or give new life to a story in the re-write phase. This concept goes beyond life experience, which I wrote about yesterday, but it does include your opinions and views on topics based on your experiences with them.
Think about something you enjoy. Maybe it’s a sport. Maybe it’s a school subject like history or science. Maybe you know a lot about cooking, or gardening, or arts and crafts. Whatever it is, you know enough about it or you can do research to find out more about in in order to incorporate it into a story. And if you have a fresh take on a familiar topic, you can always dig in and write a how-to book or blog that can help others experience that topic from a new perspective.
The point is that we all know a lot about a lot of topics and things. We all feel we are an expert in something that we are interested in and love. So why not use that information and passion for that topic and make it a part of the plot for your next story? Maybe it can even be the interest of your main character.
Make a list of five or more topics or interests you feel you know really well. Can any of them be used to create a story or character? The next time you feel stuck by writer’s block, look at this list and see if it sparks something that will help you move ahead in your story or just get you writing in order to keep a block from stopping your writing altogether.
