Good evening all,
If you think you are the only writer to have issues finding a new idea that really grabs you then you would be wrong. I have, in the last two months, spent almost all of my extra time rigorously editing one of my finished pieces. I went through my binder of old ideas to try and spark something new, which usually works, but nothing came. So I looked at writing prompts, even wrote a few down, and still no luck. I was feeling beat down and lost. I thought for sure that I had already written down every idea I would ever have for the rest off my life, which is complete nonsense. But it’s the way I felt.
I just wanted something new, I wanted inspiration, I wanted to write not just edit, but I had difficulty getting there. I spent two whole months not writing a single new thing, instead, I only added to my current WIP (Work In Progress). It was still work and it was still good, but I still wanted a new idea to continue creating something new.
I kept going back to new ideas and looking at prompts hoping something new would find me and inspire me to get back into the creating part of writing. It took me thinking about past works from other authors and to published books I had read. I find that now, most of my ideas come from other authors (topic-wise) I chose a topic and the ideas began to flow and I went back through my past ideas and picked a few that worked with my topic and began creating.
I find myself more and more relying on other writers, but I realized that’s what they are there for. Other writers are there to help you, to encourage you, and to hold you up when you feel you’re about to fall. It’s okay to rely on them, thousands of books share the same topics, but it’s the unique characters and the unique world and the situations you put your characters through that makes the story different. I got my topic from a fellow writer, but the idea was all mine, I just needed a nudge.
Ideas and inspiration can come from anywhere and where they come from is not what matters, but where you take them and how you chose to use them that matters. Never stop writing, never stop trying and you’ll get there, you will succeed. If you need someone to believe in you, I do.
Rose Marie