Do you ever feel like you are writing about the same thing over and over again?

We all have our favourite themes and it’s hard to think outside of the box - outside of our own box - sometimes.

Be someone else

Imagine you are someone else. If you are well off, imagine you are on the dole. If you are on the dole, imagine you are a single mother working three jobs. If you are a single mother working three jobs, imagine you got married to a rich man you don’t love anymore.

Imagine you are someone else. Read a newspaper, or listen to someone’s story (ride the bus, it’s easy to hear people’s conversations on the bus). How do you react to it now? Can you see a third side to a story, a side you wouldn’t see with your own eyes?

Contradict yourself

Let’s say you always write romantic love songs because you are a romantic and believe into meeting your one and only soulmate. Use the logical side of your brain to find arguments against this. “5 billion people, why would i only have one soulmate in the world?” would probably be the answer given by many people. Dig deeper and deeper. Make it a logical game for yourself. Test your intellect. If you can’t find arguments against your “romantic love songs”, you fail. Don’t give up until your mind rises to the challenge.

Now, write them down. Next time you sit down to write a song, look at them. Could they inspire a story?

Be a detective

There are many unsolved murders or mysteries on the news everyday. Children disappearing, accidents that cannot be explained, residents of a tiny village all seeing UFOs… be a detective and imagine a story behind those mysteries. All you need is a shocking/strong starting point (a murder, a disappearance, a famous person acting out of character…), and let your imagination work out the missing pieces of the puzzle. Then change the names, dates and places, and you got yourself a story!