My stock in trade is ideas so I’m obsessed with new tricks and techniques for coming up with more and even better ideas. I am also fascinated by what others do to come up with them. Indeed, I’m interested in the the whole notion of how ideas form and then grow – and how you decide which ones to run with.
At the moment I’m trying to be disciplined about following writing coach Diana Burrell’s tips for coming up with ideas for features. She suggests you brainstorm for 25 ideas everyday – at least. Don’t think about the quality just go for quantity. Write the numbers one to 25 and then fill them in as quickly as you can.
Diana Burrell’s website and courses
I’m thinking this a good way for coming up with ideas for any project – not just feature ideas. She insists that if you do this simple thing every day ‘story ideas will be coming at you from every angle.’
So, this week I bought a new notebook. Must admit I am obsessed with finding the perfect notebook too. This one is from the brand Cid Pear and I picked it up in TK Maxx, which does a great line in notebooks and stationery as well as rather bizarre clothes.
Diana says that you MUST persist. Even if you struggle to come up with your daily quota of ideas, you have to give it a few weeks. ‘Keep reminding yourself during the day to pay attention. Continue to ask yourself as you talk to friends or worry about problems or wonder how to accomplish a task – is there something in here I could write about.’
So my list goes on the paper every day and admittedly it’s quite odd and on the face of it uninspiring – especially if I’ve had a routine day and haven’t really spoken to anybody new.
But, I’m going to stick with it as apparently the more you practise the better you get at idea generation.
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