Where do you hunt for creative writing topics and article ideas?

What do novelists and news writers have in common, besides a love for the written word?

Probably plenty. But here’s a telling trait all writers share. Wordsmiths work hard to come up with a constant supply of new concepts for coverage. Ideas are everything to those who work in words.

But where do the best ideas originate?

It’s not as if some mysterious muse will whisper sweet story subjects into our ears. No fantabulous fairy godmother is going to tap us on our heads and magically fill us with fresh content concepts.

Gathering the stuff of stories can be hard work. It takes time!

Consider this quote from one of the world’s great minds:

“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.”

Who said that?

Was it William Shakespeare? Charles Dickens? Emily Bronte? William Safire? Nellie Bly? Edgar Allan Poe? Robert Ludlum?

Nope. Guess again.

That quote came from a prominent scientist. In fact, he won the Nobel Prize twice, once for chemistry (1954) and once for peace (1962). Linus Pauling (1901 – 1994) said that about ideas. This honored chemist knew the importance of sorting out speculations.

The principle, of course, holds for writers as well.

Deadline writers and beat reporters understand this full well. We scratch our heads over story ideas. We chew the bud. We noodle around. We mull things over.

And then we write.

We sit and struggle to find the right words. We peck and pound at our keyboards and finally file our articles.

Then, almost immediately, another deadline appears on the radar.

Yep, we need a constant proverbial pipeline of new creative concepts. Keep ‘em coming, folks!

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Fairy Godmother

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