6 Unique Ways to Think Up Story Ideas – Written By Ryan Lanz

Ask any successful author what question they get asked the most, and they’ll likely say “How do you come up with your ideas?”
We’ve all had our days where our mental engines have sputtered. Many beginning writers have the fear that they won’t be able to come up with enough ideas. I can relate to that back when I first started.
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck
Some people write quickly, but it’s not unheard of to take a year to write and polish a novel. As long as you can think up just one idea a year, you’ve got something to work on.
I firmly believe that the best way to come up with ideas is to simply live your life. Every single writer comes up with story ideas every day. The thing is, some writers aren’t fully receiving them. I equate it to opportunity. Everyone has opportunities that come their way, but if they don’t recognize them, or embrace them, they’ll whisk by.
The trick is to be ready for an idea when it comes. And I don’t only mean ready with a pen and notebook. I mean mentally ready to recognize that your random thought could be a useful idea. When you pass by an intriguing billboard, when a friend says something interesting, when one of life’s tidbits strikes you as ironic, or when you overcome an obstacle in your personal life, they all can be converted into the foundation of your next story if you see it as such.
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