“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” — Orson Scott

Write the Book You Want to Read

I hope, and assume (though you know what they say about that), that you're taking this course because you want to write a book. If that's not the case, I'm quite sorry, as you might not find this very helpful.

However, if that is the case, the place you need to start is with an idea.

Idea (n.) - A thought. That most mystical of things, where possibilities are endless and worlds are created.

Do you already have an idea for a book? Perhaps a favorite vacation spot or family home has turned into a fantastical world or even a murder mystery in your mind. Perhaps an event or figure from history has always been particularly alluring to you. Or perhaps you've dreamed up two characters who are destined to fall in love.

Are you still looking for the right idea to turn into your first book? Maybe you have a note tucked away on your phone filled with half-baked premises. Maybe you have a favorite book that you wish you could read more of, but don't know how. Or maybe you just have a genre that you love to read.

Either way, once you open your mind up to the possibility of creating a story, you will find inspiration for it everywhere. Even just taking a walk down the road, you will find a half a dozen different story ideas if you're looking.

• Have you ever wondered about the lady who lives down the street, and the life she has lived up until now? Or the life she wishes she had lived?
• Is there a house that always catches your eye- one that is particularly old, or new, or beautiful, or dilapidated?
• There are worlds everywhere- in the tree on the corner, in the crumbs of the muffin on the sidewalk.

I, for example, have one of those notes on my phone with half-baked premises. One of those says, "What happens in the deep dark woods?" I, as you may be able to guess, live in the woods, and this was a thought I had one day while walking the dogs. It's not a story idea yet, but it could be with a little more care.

The bottom line is that countless stories are waiting to be told, or retold. In so doing, you may be tempted to fixate on the reader and what is selling. While this certainly can be valuable to think about at some point in the process. Not yet.

When your book idea is just that, an idea and not a full-fledged manuscript, the most important thing is to write for you. Write the book you want to read. That is how your best writing will flow. As one of my favorite writing quotes goes:

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”
― Terry Pratchett

Still Looking for an Idea?

Maybe you’ve always dreamt of writing a novel, but the right idea hasn’t found you yet. There are a few creative writing exercises early on in this course that might help you, and if you’d like, you can skip to those and try them out. Otherwise, here are a few other exercises you can try to find inspiration:

• Go to a public place by yourself, a cafe, or a bar, with a notebook and observe. Pick a person or a group of people and think of names and occupations for them. Create a short story for those people.
• Don’t want to go out in public? That’s okay. Search your brain for people from your past and pick one. Do the same exercise for them. You may know their name and occupation already, but what don’t you know about them? Put them into a short story.
• Research places you’ve never been to. Imagine a day that you would spend there. What would you do? Who do you see? What happens?
• What is a favorite novel or movie of yours that didn’t end the way you wanted it to? Write the ending you wish it had.
• What is a favorite novel or movie of yours that did end the way you wanted it to? If you could keep that story going, what would happen?
• Read. Watch movies. Visit museums. Devour content. Many creators will say “I was inspired by ___” and it will be a previously published work of literature, film, or art.
• Mine your own life. Maybe you’re destined to write a memoir! What is the most pivotal moment in your life?

Now, for this course, it is best to have a particular idea in mind that you want to work on. Don’t worry, if that one idea falls flat for you at some point, you can always pick another one. Depending on where you are with your ideas, try out the following PDFs to help you find your idea.