In the summer of 2003, Mark Orwell began his career as a freelance writer focusing on popular culture, music, and film. He continues to write on a broad array of topics from Miami, Florida. His work has been available in the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa.
Writing a good book doesn't come easy. Writing any book at all, in fact, takes not only good ideas, but hard work and dedication. If you are interested in writing a book but haven't found a concept that pops for you, consider trying to draw ideas using the methods described here. They have all been used by writers in the past and have been proven effective in stimulating the creative process. They're all a bit different, but they all help you form new ideas and combine with those that you already have into something complete. Who knows, you may end up figuring out the perfect plot or idea for a book like you never would have imagined.
Clustering
Let's begin with the concept of clustering. This is one of the most common ways of drawing ideas for a book, and it is often taught to kids in school. Even though it's a good tool for children, that doesn't mean it isn't effective for you, an adult. Start with a blank sheet of paper and a single word that you want to build a book idea off of. Write this word in the middle of the paper and circle it. Now, around this word, write other words that are in some way related and connect them to the original word with lines. Do the same thing with these words and so on. Eventually, you will find many connections to your original idea that you may not have thought of before.
Listing
Listing is another way to draw ideas for a book, and is a good way to follow up a clustering session. Here, you start with an idea that you would like to expand on or a question you want to answer regarding your book idea. Start with a question and begin listing answers to it. Do it off the top of your head and don't stop to think. Keep your thoughts flowing and focusing on the topic that one question brings up. Why does Erin end up leaving Ricky? You very well may be surprised by the answer yourself when you look back at this list.
Free Writing
Finally, we have free writing. This is somewhat similar to the listing technique in that everything you write comes right off the top of your head and without pause. The difference is you're not looking for the answer to a specific question. Instead, you are taking the ideas that you have and starting to write. You may not know where your story is going or even how it starts, but when you start to write and get those creative juices flowing, new ideas are sure to arise. Keep writing without pause until you have a few pages of prose written. Then, look back to see what you have and build on the new ideas for your book that you have found.
