Parents and Preschool

Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary

Post Secondary and Adults

Teachers

Downloads

Job Hunting and Employment Alternatives

Private Tutor Registry

by: Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ

There are many ways you can generate ideas you can use for your stories, articles and other creative pieces. Start with the three ways given below:

1. Put Your 5 Senses to Work

A simple but effective way to generate fresh ideas from a single concept, idea or object is to describe or illustrate it using the 5 senses -- sight, smell, touch, taste, sound.

For you to do: Generate 5 specific images or concrete examples (one example for each sense) for the following:

• vindication (what's the smell of vindication? how does it taste? how does it sound? what does it look like? how does it feel?)

• hesitation

• celebration

2. Take Advantage of Your Conflicts

Conflict is a part of life. It's also a source of creativity. You only need to look at yourself and examine your experiences to come up with ideas based on conflicts.

For you to do: What's stopping you from doing something? Who is in the way of you getting what you want? What's stopping you from taking a career leap? Brainstorm for conflicts in your life and come up with at least 15 in your list.

3. It's OK to Call People Names

Generate nicknames or terms that capture the lifestyles, attitudes or characteristics of certain groups of people.

For example, the nicknames I came up for the kind of people I encountered on the bus when I used to commute to work and back were: space-hog, slumper, fidgeter and refined. The terms described how the people on the bus behaved as they sat. [They were useful because I was able to avoid the space-hogs and the fidgeters when choosing a seat. Sitting beside a slumper was all right, since most slumpers kept their slumps within their space ;o)]

For you to do: Generate nicknames or terms for the following groups of people:

• cashiers

• waiters

• teachers

• employees

• actors

Begin using these 3 simple ways of generating ideas today. Before long, you'll be churning out one idea after another with ease. That's creativity at work!

About The Author Copyright (c) 2004 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta-Russ Shery is the developer of creative, motivating and fun e-mail courses for writers. Sign up and take an e-mail course today...free! http://writingbliss.com

If you found this article interesting, you may also be interested in:

Inspired to Write

Writing Publishable Short Stories

Newnovelist

How may I help you today?

Test Prep Articles

Test Prep Resources

General Post Secondary Articles

General Post Secondary Resources

Computer Articles

Computer Resources

Articles for Adults

Resources for Adults

Writers' Articles

Writers' Resources