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Read 12 fun ways to find a book idea, from exploring myths and legends to poring through digital archives, doing as Disraeli advised, and more. Book ideas come to authors via many conduits. Through history or current events. Passion or indignation. Through myths, songs and legends. Family jokes and dramas.
To find the best book topics: Search Google News for keywords to do with subjects that interest you (e.g. ‘music’, ‘romance’, ‘travel’, etc.) See if headlines inspire ideas; Open a book to a random page and use the first sentence you read as the first sentence of a story (you can erase it and find a new one later)
Get story ideas from music. Find inspiration in interesting facts. Do physical exercise for mental benefits. Read news story headlines for ideas. Combine story ideas from multiple sources. Ask creative ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder’ questions. Mine your dreams for ideas. Brainstorm novel ideas in a new environment. Keep a journal.
Find the 200-plus fantasy writing plot ideas and prompts below for writing flash fiction, short stories or something longer: Use the table of contents below to jump to one of twenty fantasy writing prompt categories: Magical discovery. Magical laws and rules. Magical objects and talismans. Spells, rituals and potions.
1. Use Google News. Google News is a Godsend for finding and developing story ideas. Sometimes all it takes is a wacky (or poignant) headline to get inspiration going. Try entering odd words or phrases and seeing what headlines show up. For example: ‘Inventor goes bust’. ‘Geese are…’. ‘Nobody knew…’.
Read 8 ways to build on a founding story idea: 1. Condense your book idea into a logline. This might sound strange advice. You’re trying to grow your book idea, after all. Yet putting your central idea as a brief synopsis is helpful for beginning with clear focus, and just enough detail. Read these loglines for famous authors’ books.
Title your book through creative use of parts of speech. Infer with conjunctions. Use words such as ‘but’, ‘yet’, ‘because’ that imply contradiction, exception or causation. Choose an eponymous title. Title your story or novel with a character’s memorable name (especially if your story is in an autobiographical style).
1. Search genre-specific terms in Google News. To find plot ideas inspired by news headlines and articles: Make a list of key words and phrases for the genre you want to write. For romance, words such as ‘dating’, ‘relationships’, ‘love’, ‘romance’, work as a starting point. Try longer phrases if feeling adventurous.
Read tips to start turning your ideas into a novel: 1. Let go of ‘should’. A lot of us have this strange idea that there’s a way we should do things. Yet starting a novel isn’t as much a question of how ‘should’ you start but how ‘will’ you start. Because the will to start has to be there.
The best book setting ideas are highly effective. Setting is a literary device where a writer establishes a time frame, location and the environment of a story. In a novel where the author performs careful worldbuilding, the story setting enriches plot events with atmosphere and mood; context and contrast.