Loading... How do you generate ideas to write about?

My ideas are usually generated from my every day experiences. For example, if I read some interesting incident in the news, or see something on my way to work that affects my mind, I carry them back to Hubpages, and start to write. Once the topic is decided, words usually start to flow, although occasionally I take the help of the dictionary or thesaurus to find more suitable words.

Some of my ideas come from the photographs I take. Or I will have an idea and then I look through all my photos. If I do a hub and want a photo, I know I can make an image that is all my own. My life experience, art work, photography and writing all kind of bounce off of each other helping me to come up with ideas.

I look at the hubpages answers to just write - anything - as long as keep writing. Google news & trends. Mostly from books - I just want to share what I learned in a 'reader's digest' type of way. Most people don't read 600 page nonfiction or want to listen to an nonfiction audiobook while driving.

Usually I find things that I want to learn more about and will then research them. It's very much like what I do as a scientist. As scientist, we stumble upon something or an unexpected find that could be interesting or related to what we are researching and it takes us down a whole new path of discovery.

Sometimes just reading books inspire me, or experiences, or just watching documentaries on television. When an idea comes, I research it or just sit down and freewrite until it turns into something that I could actually write a hub on and publish.

On the historical front I've been running subjects along like a car in a set of notebooks, refilling and carrying on along the motorway of early Mediaeval English themes. My mileposts go from the Romans' mass pullout to when Nicholas Breakespear, alias the Pontiff Adrian IV, gave Henry II 'permission to invade Ireland' on canonical grounds in AD1166 (really only because Henry didn't want Richard deClare, 'Strongbow' to get too big for his boots). See what I mean? One thing can lead to another and before you know it, you've got enmeshed in different subject matter. Same goes for specialist travel pages that lead all over the place like spaghetti. It's stopping the flow that's the problem!

I might branch out into the civil war Sir Walter Scott dubbed 'the Wars of the Roses', if only for my Yorkist leanings - odd, that, with my name - towards Richard III. The Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 was only seven years before Columbus landed in the West Indies - Now there's another theme!

Sometimes when I'm writing a Hub, I get an idea for another Hub that I could write later on. Also, when I'm trying to figure out something for myself, and I do, I turn it into a potential Hub!

Plus, I have a notebook that I write ideas for Hubs in whenever I think of any. It's a good way to keep track of what you've already published, or what you could start on writing.

I get Google Alerts for certain topics, check out what's most popular online, or take something I'm interested in knowing more about and share what I learn. My life experiences and past is really influential in my writing, too, and plan to post writing exercises once I begin doing them regularly and have ideas for my own.

Speaking of... writing exercises are an excellent way to generate ideas, too. I also use the Write or Die app on my PC to freewrite and am considering getting a couple of other writing apps.

My best (or, easiest-to-work-with) ideas often come from things I hear people say, as well as just different words I read--I am an avid reader. I, too, often look words up...although one of my pasttimes, when I have time, is to read dictionaries for the pure joy of it. :)

These days I mainly write poetry or prose, but in the past, most of my creative energy was directed at stories that were based partly on the escapades of my wild, ship-jumping imagination. But, as I said, I harvest many ideas from interpretations of what people say. I am a die-hard quote collector, so I tend to focus a good bit on (sometimes) random verbal anecdotes and have found the spoken word to contain a wealth of ideas and inspiration, when one thinks about it long enough and in the right creative state of mind.

I carry a notebook with me, usually in my backpack or in my car. When I think of something that interests me or I think would make a good topic, I write it down. I'll add any subtopics or ideas to this list before I get to a PC to write it all out. Then I just check it off my sheet and put the date on it that I wrote it.

I like to "hop" on hubpages. I like to find interesting articles to read and learn from. I usually find one that sparks an idea for writing a hub on a simular topic myself.

I get more ideas than I can possibly use. I have written a hub about how to generate ideas. Pretty much, anything I have researched, anything new I've learned recently, and problems I see other people experiencing are all pretty good categories of topics.

Like jesimpki, I recommend writing down the ideas, while you have them. You don't want to forget your good ones.

You will notice as you are writing, that simply writing generates additional ideas. If you go off on a tangent, make the tangent a topic for another hub.

I think a better question is "what can't you generate ideas from?" For example, "how do you generate ideas to write about" is good to write about.

Observation. All my ideas begin with observing the real world, followed by asking questions about what I observe, how I deal with what I observe, and what this isolated data point, the observation, tells me about the larger world, how is it connected, or disjointed, from the rest of reality. The observation does not stay still, or, rather, if it does, if it is only that single data point and I cannot connect it, cannot work with it, I abandon it and move on to something else. This reliance on observation frees me to draw inspiration from living itself--what I read, what I see, what I hear, what I do--and forces me to reflect on my relationships with the external world, and the manner in which my mind and my emotions contact that external reality.

The list is endless, just a walk down the road gives you a life time of ideas.

I like to go to the airport, bookstore, or park and sit for an hour. Take in your surroundings and keep a watchful eye to the ongoings around you. Somewhere along the journey you will be gifted with an idea.

The ideas seem to find me. I might be walking around somewhere and an idea pops into my head or I can write from things I know about, such as photography and other topics. The great thing about HubPages is that you can write about whatever crosses your mind, so maybe you should just keep in mind you have a page and keep thinking, hey, that might be a good one for my HubPage. Works for me.

Straight out of my everyday life! Kinda like Forrest Gump. Life is like a box of chocolates....you never know what your gonna get!

My imagination is so active I have never had trouble with topics, that's not to say they are all good hubs, but a dreamer I am and shall always be

thank you

My brain has a hard work for that. I think what people might be looking for that I am familiar with.

I usually let ideas come to me. By sometimes I start playing around with different hub topic or movie ideas and start asking what if... what if... what if i blend two ideas... etc. I have written a hub about this: "How to get great creative ideas" here I have listed other games one can play to come up with new and unique ideas for writing hubs, stories etc.

I take notes or set 'tasks' in Outlook any time I have an idea or hear something interesting. May it be from watching TV or a movie or talking to people on the road.

I read a lot of things. I write a lot of recipes which come from what I'm coming up with in the kitchen. However my other hubs come from my daily life. If I encounter something that I don't know much about, I try to find out more about it, and share it. I look around my house and draw inspiration for things I find there. I write about what I know and what I think might be interesting for others.

My ideas come from friends, network news and my music.

I hold my breath until I turn blue... when my face smashes the keys it all comes out like tie-dye

I usually start writing after looking around on what was happened. Sometimes of walk around to observe anything that can be a good lesson to all. Also would be good to suft more hubs on your loves topic to gather more points for later use. I also have my own Blog (www.mycashcabinet.com) to record down all my research.

I like to write about things I believe in, things that truly interest me, etc.

aside from writing some of my personal experiences, i also love to write about what's the latest happenings in the society..

My suggestion are

From real life events

Own experiences

Topics of interest

Areas of Interest

Field of operations

Knowledge Base

and many more

Alexander, I get all of my ideas for writing from God. Creativity is one of my God-given gifts and I use it as He wills me to.