Random Ideas

As writers we needs ideas all the time. We need ideas to begin a story, ideas to make it all the way through the first draft, ideas to fix what turned into the first draft and make it something readable, ideas to find that perfect twist, that perfect ending. How many ideas can we be expected to come up with anyway? People can say that inspiration is all around us but sometimes we just don't feel it.

When you can't pull another idea out of your writerly hat and you're ready to turn to anything else try throwing one of these ideas at that writing gap.

Apples to Apples
You may know Apples to Apples as a childrens board game. I had only heard about it from the Writer Improv episodes of Will Write for Wine. With a quick google search I found an online version of the game (available for PC only). It's really just two decks of cards, one of nouns, the other of adjectives, but sometimes that's all you'll need. Pick a card, any card, and plug it into that gaping plot hole that's just waiting for an idea.

Tarot
No matter whether you believe there is anything mystical in tarot or not as a writer you can make it mystical for your characters. You can get free online tarot readings at Facade Tarot where you can select from a range of tarot decks, a range of tarot layout and choose whether or not to ask a specific question. I like a tarot deck that has a lot of detail in the images of the cards. This gives us some much more to work with. We can ignore the interpretation of the card entirely and pick the smallest detail out of the image that might be just what we were missing.

Endless Landscape
I came across the Myriorama Endless Lanscape cards while strolling down the recreated Victorian street in York Castle Museum. The ones I own have 24 cards and the magic of them is that no matter what order you put them in they'll always match up. You can use them to tell a whole story or to add a ship, village, castle, farm, family, lone traveller, saddled stranger to fill the gap.

What do you turn to when you need inspiration to generate ideas?