Find Your Next Great Book Idea

Today — May 21 — is the official guest blog post day through the WordCount Blogathon. What does that mean, you ask? It means that all 42 of us participating bloggers have partnered with someone to share a post. It’s a nice opportunity to stretch your legs and get to know each other too.

So, without much further ado, I’d like to introduce Jared Lopatin from Sign in Ink.

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It’s a pleasure and an honor to guest blog for No 2. Pen!

In deciding what to write about, I turned to the person I know best: myself. “How presumptuous,” you may think to yourself, but they always say, “Write what you know.” So that’s what I’m doing. For that matter, who are “they” anyway?

I’d always dabbled in writing but it wasn’t until an idea came to me in a dream that I really started to write a novel. Some of you may be wondering how one starts. Well, I believe it starts with an idea that just won’t leave you alone. There are many ideas that pass through my head on a minute by minute basis, and for some reason, good writing begins with a nagger. If you’re having one of these naggers, I suggest you find pen and paper and start to record it. You never know where it might lead.

Strangely enough, I tend to get developmental ideas in the places where I can’t write anything down: the subway, the shower, etc. Filing away this information for later usage can be tricky, so I suggest always having a notepad and writing implement nearby (wait until you get out of the shower and dry off a bit before writing) so that you can record ideas as they come to you. No idea is too strange to ignore. Try it. See where it goes. You’d be surprised at where an idea might lead. Perhaps the original thought isn’t viable as a plot device, but the following one is. It’s worth a shot.

Make sure you listen to yourself. There are many people who are going to read your work (if you’re brave enough to share it). They will offer advice and opinions; some of them wonderful, some of them not. Trust yourself. Ultimately, it’s your writing. That doesn’t mean don’t listen; listen with an open mind.

Perhaps what they’re saying isn’t what you want to hear, but it may be a jumping off point for your brain to work out new paths for your writing to take. There’s no harm in listening. Just make sure you filter it through your own vision and that it aligns. Our works can be very personal and it’s hard to hear criticism, even constructive criticism, but it’s an ongoing process and sometimes finding our way is about choosing the right voice to listen to and using that information to our own advantage.

Most importantly, keep writing! No idea is unworthy of exploration. Sometimes, it’s the errant thought that develops into a wonderful story in a different world.

Happy exploring!

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