Inspiration & Idea Generation

A writer may have a wealth of ideas, struggling to even keep pace with the thoughts as they occur. Other times, as if by a magical curse, the wellspring runs dry. Getting stuck when you’re trying to start the next big project can leave you feeling helpless and unmotivated. But there are ways to treat this malady.

In this post:

• Recovering from burnout

• Activating inspiration

• The issue of originality

• Your muse

• Cultivating ideas

• Hushing your inner critic

Recovering from burnout

There are many strategies to get the creative juices flowing again, but it’s worthwhile to first determine the situation’s cause. Sometimes we’re not out of ideas, we’re simply burnt out.

Maybe personal circumstances are affecting our creative ability, or maybe we’ve just been pushing ourselves too hard. The suffering artist archetype suggests we produce our best work when we’re struggling, but it’s just that: an archetype. In real life, we produce better and more consistent work when we take care of ourselves. Though we’d like to be able to turn the faucet on at any time or just power through a challenge, our brains have a funny way of stopping the flow when something is afoot.

So if you are burnt out and need a rest, take one. Try putting things aside for a bit to recuperate. As for any feelings of guilt, remember that you are the steward of your own health. You, like everyone, owe yourself a break from time to time. And, if you’re looking for a stretch goal, building rest into your practice not only helps prevent burnout, it also lessens those feelings of guilt. The more proactive you can be, the better you’ll feel.

Remember that rest also looks different for everyone. Some people may be able to disconnect from their work entirely. Others may switch to another project in a different genre (or better yet, one not related to writing at all). As you try things out, listen to what your brain responds to. If you can rest and remember to be kind to yourself, you’ll be able to fill the well back up in no time.

Activating inspiration

If you have an established writing practice, there’s a good chance you’ve already had an idea or two that you were excited to work on. Sometimes when we’re particularly pleased with a creation, we worry that it’s the only good idea we’ll ever have. Otherwise, if you’re just exploring writing as a career or hobby, knowing where to start can be tricky.

Creating a list of activities that get you in a creative space can help alleviate the pressure in either scenario. Here are a few common ones to get you started:

• Walking, hiking or spending time in nature

• Seeking out new experiences whether through travel or in your own neighbourhood

• Reading or watching media you like; looking at works of art

• Journaling about your life, your everyday thoughts, memories or dreams

• Socializing with friends and family

The point of the items on this list, or any list like it, is that while you’re not forcing inspiration, you are creating opportunity and space for it. The spark for ideas is within us; the world beyond is the fuel.

That’s why something as casual as a conversation with friends can be a great starting point. Hearing other people’s thoughts and perspectives causes us to reflect on our own. I have personally found a lot of inspiration in discussing various media with my loved ones.

The issue of originality

That said, when we turn to other media to help us out of a rut, there can sometimes be a concern about originality. Or, perhaps we’re in a rut because we already believe we don’t have any original ideas.

Some good news is that your medium of choice may alleviate this dread. Take fan fiction, for instance. Though you still have to come up with compelling additions or twists on the original, if you’re reinterpreting existing characters, settings or plot points, you’ll have solid building blocks to start with. Even if you’re just daydreaming about your favourite characters and never write anything down, it’s a great exercise to get the creative ball rolling again.

(It is of course worth mentioning that originality does matter when you’re selling or claiming a work. Plagiarism and copyright infringement are never okay.)

But, if you’re still concerned about the originality of your work, remember that having an idea is only the first step in writing. You have to workshop it and give it your own unique spin. The notion that there are no more original ideas in art might seem defeatist at first blush, but it can actually be freeing. There is always room for a fresh perspective.

Writers are privileged to be in community with one another. Without it we wouldn’t have works like Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to and critique of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. The literary canon is a constant conversation between all work, past and present. Like all conversation, there is an art to it.

Your muse

Though no one is knocking it, real life inspiration is rarely the lightning strike moment of creative genius we see in cartoons. Rather than waiting for the writing gods to smile favourably on you, why not climb up to the top of their mountain and confront them yourself?

Artists are bitten by a bug to create. Sometimes we have all kinds of creative energy, but nowhere to put it. That’s where the muse comes in.

A muse could look like anything: a person, a theme, a cause you care deeply about, an aesthetic you like, a time period that caught your fancy. No one’s saying you have to settle down and raise a family with a single concept—your art can be as diverse as you like—but having a passion that fits into some of these buckets can lead to great ideas.

Have you ever been so passionate about something that you could talk about it for hours if left unchecked? If you lean into that passion in your writing, you’re not likely to run out of ideas. Instead, you might find yourself facing the opposite problem: not having enough time to address them all.

Creativity is a muscle. You can exercise it, give it the right fuel and watch it build up over time.

Cultivating ideas

So now that you’ve got the well flowing again, how do you catch the ideas as they start to bubble up?

Once again, sitting in your own perspective and listening to what speaks to you is a great basis from which to start. (Side note: journaling or any kind of active emotional processing has many a benefit, but really getting in touch with yourself can also aid your writing.)

When you’re in the midst of an inspiring conversation or movie, play the role of observer. Consider what ideas spring to mind. When you have time, jot down those reflections in a notebook or document. Even if you use nothing from it, getting into the habit of watching for ideas will help you nurture the garden of creativity more intentionally.

Meditation in any form is a great practice for this reason. You have nowhere to be but in your thoughts. Tune in and embrace the boredom. If you’re like me, a little boredom will give you the space to cultivate your ideas.

There’s a reason shower thoughts are so prevalent.

Hushing your inner critic

Your inner critic plays an important role in your writing, but that role is not necessary for every aspect of the process. When the voice inside belittles your creative endeavours, or makes you ask “Why bother?” it’s time to put it in its place.

If you’re struggling with generating ideas, allowing things to be as unfiltered as possible is important. Nothing needs to be perfect, especially at the beginning. That’s what planning and plotting are all about. If you shut down an idea too quickly, you won’t have the opportunity to see where the idea leads you. Sometimes it’s the second, third or fourth iteration that really hits home.

So for this part, practice being a neutral party when observing your thoughts and try not to judge. We need to give our ideas room to grow and blossom into something great.

Most of all, if you ever run into a creative snag, don’t lose hope. You’d be surprised at how quickly you’ll bounce back if you give yourself the space to recover and be a little silly.

Mary Kehoe provides structural, stylistic and copy editing services for a variety of written works through her agency, Elixir Editorial. From time to time she dabbles in her own writing projects which tend toward the speculative genre.

She is a member of both Editors Canada and the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), as well as a founding member and former chair of the Toronto Arts & Letters Club writing group. A longtime lover of the English language, Mary is passionate about supporting writers on the journey to inspire the world.