Whether you’ve chosen creative writing as part of your degree or you’ve joined the university’s creative writing group, finding inspiration can be incredibly difficult.
As someone with creative writing in the degree title and who studied during a pandemic, when leaving the house wasn’t an option, finding inspiration for my writing was not easy.
Before I start talking about how to find inspiration for your writing, I want to say this:
Writing👏doesn’t👏just👏happen👏by👏magic👏It👏takes👏hard👏work👏
So, start writing
To get any kind of creative juices flowing (ew, who even uses that phrase?), you have to actually write words. It’s not about finding inspiration, but about finding the motivation to get that first few words down.
A trick that I learned at university was to write ‘I don’t know what to write’ over and over again until I have an idea. Although you might end up with a page or two of the same sentence, it’s definitely something that has worked for me.
Go and people-watch
If you’ve hit a wall and have found yourself in the same room for a while, change your scenery and find somewhere to write where you have a great vantage point. It’s the stereotypical writer advice: base your writing around the characters that you see walking past you. It’s stereotypical for a reason, it really works.
Use creative writing prompts
Whether it’s from your lecturers, social media or the annoying prompt cards that English classrooms always seem to have lying around, using creative writing prompts can really help. Although it might not prompt your next bestseller, it will help you get into the right mindset. Here’s one on me:
You’ve woken up in a different room to the one you fell asleep in. Describe your surroundings.
Listen to a TED talk
Another one that I discovered while at uni. Listening to a speech or a TED talk about something that you are passionate about can really influence your mindset. Take the passion of the speaker and channel it into your own writing.
Read EVERYTHING
If I had to rank this list, reading would be at the top. Read your favourite book, or read something entirely different. Whatever it is, once you’ve started analysing your own creative writing, you will never read a book again without analysing it, so embrace that.
If you’re struggling for the time and/or concentration to read a book, watch a film that you’ve never seen before. I’ve found that indie films in the genre that I aim to write really kickstart my writing. This is the only time at university you will ever be told to watch films, so I’m sure you won’t protest too much!
For more ideas, check out our ‘Tips to get out of a creative writing slump’ article, and good luck!