What Should I Write About!?

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT? A stumper throughout history. What good are acumen and education if you have no ideas? Here are techniques to create and evolve ideas. We will use daydreaming (a powerful trance state) to create great things.

What should I write about??

Using writing prompts correctly

Expecting brilliant thoughts to pop into our heads is unreliable, and it will burn you out. One of the best practices to get “That Idea” is a writing prompt. Overused and boring? Not at all. Most writers have no idea how to use them correctly. You never use just one; you use 3-9 simultaneously, they don’t have to have anything in common, and you shouldn’t take it too seriously. Seriously. You’re not studying prompts to “GET AN IDEA NOW!!” This technique is not an instant product; it’s a process.

Go to Google and enter “Topics to Write About.” Browse through the offerings and make a choice. I stumbled on JournalBuddies.com with the article “30 Topic ideas to Write About.” Writing out the first three prompts, I responded casually:

1. Write about a time when you were afraid you’d fail at something. How did you conquer your fear?
   I have many odd fears, too many to mention. Currently, I fear this blog is a silly experiment that won’t go anywhere, and the people in my life will say something like, “Meh? At least he’s not shooting at coyotes in the desert with a PVC bow… again.” So, I can’t say I conquered this fear yet, gotta keep going.
2. Do you think humans will ever travel to other planets? Why or why not?
   NO! Why? We have a juicy planet right here! Not to say I wouldn’t write a story about it, just… these days we don’t go to the moon anymore, why would we visit another planet? I hope we do, but I doubt it.
3. Write a poem about your grandparents.
   I must decline. They’re all dead except for one Grandma, and she acts like she doesn’t want to be here anymore. I love her. She’s a survivor.

Don’t freak out; allow brilliance to germinate

What should I write about? Start with something you know and let it grow

Enjoy this process; it gives opportunities to be childish, witty, and expressive. Once you’re done, read and then reread your responses, I recommend reading them 4-10 times. Select the phrases that resonate with you the most; these were my choices:

• “Shooting at coyotes in the desert with a PVC bow.”
• “I can’t say I conquered this fear yet; gotta keep going.” 
• “We have a juicy planet right here! We don’t go to the moon… why would we visit another planet?“
• They’re all dead. She acts like she doesn’t want to be here anymore. I love her. She’s a survivor.

Cradle these seemingly different statements in your mind and daydream. Stare at the wall until your spouse (or significant other) starts to worry. Allow your mind to arrange the images until you concoct a short story; you only need a paragraph or two. This is what mine looked like:

A high-tech society of pioneers settles on a distant planetoid three times larger than the moon. Many years later, blood feuds fuel Civil Wars and their society finally crumples. An old farmer manages to save a dozen children from the chaos, and he hides them for a time. He’s alone and has mostly makeshift weapons and a few high-tech armaments. They’re discovered in an awful way and pursued; tears are shed.

The kids (orphaned refugees) have never been on the run and have almost no survival skills. The farmer is in his late sixties and quite fit; he’s seen a lot and is perpetually tired. The kiddos aren’t making things easy on him. He often wants to lay down and maybe not get up again, but who will look after the kids? Must keep going. He has to survive. He can die later.

 

OK. Neat trick, but what should I write about!?

Have patience with the process; it starts rough-hewn and slowly refines

Currently, this story is bare and needs more detail, but this is to be expected. Read your rough paragraph(s) and decide if you like it. If not, daydream again; if you get nothing satisfying from these prompts, throw the images away, grab 3-9 different questions, and start the process over. As for me, I like my little story; it has some potential. If you feel the same, begin crafting a bullet point outline. The story may go in different directions; make 3 or 4 outlines if it suits your fancy. Don’t take any of the bullet points too seriously; this is playing.

The power of bullet points!

What should I write about? THIS is where the ideas spark

Move the bullet points around, rewrite and delete as needed, and let this simple story unfold. See my rough outline below:

• The Protagonist is an old settler trapped on a near-desert world.
• The colony started with booming resources, but after 80 years, there were few remaining.
• The planetoid is small; its sun is unstable, and the planetoid is losing its orbit.
• The Protagonist is the eldest living on the planetoid, and he’s saved a group of children.
• Genocide – These are the only children left alive.
• To him, the children are just babies without skin color or belief systems.
• He has to get the babies off the planet before they die; he has almost no resources and no help.
• The kids are emotionally wrecked, they cry often, and he is the only adult. Stressful.
• The planetoid is tilting dramatically in orbit, causing seasons to shift quickly.
• He has 14 days before conditions become so harsh they die of exposure.
• Make a lot of cute moments where he talks to the kiddos and encourages them.
• He’s armed to the gills and has to defend them from indigenous animals and human survivors.
• They cross deserts infested with leapers, sinkhole swamps, and hills with broken survivors.
• They are being stalked by a skilled group (2-4) who want the children and not to save them.
• Turn the tables on the hunters and use their ship to escape. How? Not sure yet.
• The kids survive. Some are hurt. The Protagonist is badly injured but not fatally… yet.
• There’s not enough room for the babies and him. He sets autopilot for the closest civilized city-world and stays behind.
• A very tearful exit.

OK, I have ideas now, but I don’t like all of them

Not all of the ideas will work; create alternate options

I must confess something, my first endings are often shockingly sad, and occasionally, the tragic option is the best, but I won’t know all my options until I write them down. I keep the last bullet point, add sub-bullet points, and dig; this isn’t exclusive to endings. Use this tactic for any concept that needs work.

• There’s not enough room for the babies and him. He sets autopilot for the closest civilized city-world and stays behind?
• Option 1: There’s enough room he manages to squeeze in and pilot them to safety. He radios for help, and the children bury him in the new world.
• Option 2: They squeeze everyone in the tiny spaceship, crash land on the WRONG planet, start a colony, and find unexpected dangers here. Other colonists, some bizarre creatures, and the Protagonist passes away many years later at a ripe old age. The other colonists are isolationists and hardly human, but kind? Or not… maybe work with this.
• Option 3: He survives all of this. They start a new colony, and the world is pristine, unmarked, unknown—an opportunity to do everything right. The story ends with the Protagonist still alive and instructing the children to be true to their hearts? Blech, sappy.

Bounce these ideas off some readers, and get feedback.

You have ideas and structure, but great stories need a bit more
What are the underlying themes? How can they be woven into this story?

As far as a rough outline goes, I like this story, but it’s still missing thematic elements that are poignant and interesting. Decide the overarching and underlying themes you want to represent.

Are you passionate about fighting everyday evils and injustices? Facing fears and providing tools to help others process past them? Racial conflicts? Throw-away-culture replacing tried-and-true methods? Whatever your passion, can you find a way to blend it into your tale? These options worked for my story:

• The elderly can be powerful: The Protagonist sees himself as old and worn out, but to the children, he’s a god. Show these different perceptions.
• A study in fear: How do the children live in a world of fear and cope with it? What advice does the Protagonist give them? The Protagonist faces many old and new fears and eventually finds that he’s OK whether he lives or dies.
• Blood feuds and violence: Some children don’t get along and are entrenched in the nonsense that killed their parents. How to move past this? What does this look like?
• Ingenuity vs. high-tech: Mix low tech and high tech meaningfully. We shouldn’t ignore traditions for the conveniences of the present. PVC bows, flint knapped blades, making and using bolos, making hats from big leaves for the children and then blowing crap up with military-grade laser rifle and when it runs dry shooting combatants with bow and arrow.
• The nurture of beautiful things: Portray the unusual heroism of this Protagonist. Show memories of his children and deceased wife, how he loves growing crops, making things, and supporting a healthy society. Tie into racially mixed societies and what that brings.

This is a relatively simple survival story without these themes, but it could become a classic if I weave these themes rightly.

 

What should I write about? Stay open and throw that net often!

Epiphanies sneak up on you as you’re working

Gathering ideas is like throwing a cast net, and that net gets tossed until you find a sparkly idea. Keep the net open when you read your favorite novel, absorb movies, sitcoms, or witness anything. Writers like to believe their endowed with genius and can call upon their powers instantly; this is rarely the case.

After a moment of genius passes, we quickly forget these moments (usually) take a lot of work. I get my best ideas when I’m either doing hard menial labor or goofing off and not taking the process too seriously, which works for me, but I am throwing that net with what my Mama gave me.

What ideas can you daydream up? Likely something beyond my examples. Do it! Move your readers, and become a trusted author. If you ask yourself, “What should I write about?” Well… daydream, outline, and Write Something Great!