Where to Find Ideas for Your Novel

I'm thrilled to launch my Better Fiction Blog Tour from right here at Query Tracker.

The following is part one of a series of guest posts by Janice Hardy, the founder of Fiction University, a website with "over 1,000 articles to help you take your writing to the next level!"

Where to Find Ideas for Your Novel 

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Although ideas may come to us at any time, creating a novel idea on demand is often difficult. No one can truly tell you where to begin—they can only offer only suggestions on where to look for inspiration. I know what works for me, but if you're the type of writer who always starts with characters, giving you a plot point to brainstorm with will probably get you nowhere. If you build up from a premise, giving you ways to create cool characters might muddle your brain.

One thing is consistent though. No matter how you develop an idea, something triggers that first spark of inspiration.

Here are some common activities that can spark inspiration:

Do Some Research

Try reading newspapers, blogs, magazines, or web sites. Look at material that supports the type of novel simmering in your mind. If you think you might try writing science fiction, look at science magazines or science websites. Even gaming or comic sites could work.

Explore newspapers or news sites if you’re considering a mystery or police procedural. Unsolved crimes could also spark ideas, or even famous crimes with well-known criminals. What might have happened if a few key details had changed?

Totally stuck on what to write? Try the weird news sites, or humor sites that collect funny or odd posts from all over. When something piques your interest, keep exploring it until an idea forms in your mind, or you decide that’s not the way you want to go.

Do An Image Search

Look for photos of characters or places for inspiration. An unusual emotion on a portrait might make you wonder more about that person, or a beautiful or unique setting might feel like the perfect place to set a novel. Images can be powerful triggers since they can draw us in the same as a novel draws in a reader.
Even cartoons or memes can spark ideas. Create a file of images that appeal to you or bookmark them online. Mix and match characters and settings, emotions and moods, until an idea forms.

Play With Names

Naming a thing has power, and the perfect name can make a character blossom in your imagination. Search through baby name sites for names that inspire characters. Street signs can also be fun places to find names. Exit signs on highways often put two names together that could become a person or an interesting place.

People Watch

Find a seat and watch the world go by. Malls, stores, and parks are common areas where people of all types gather, and some of them might catch your eye. What about them is intriguing? Make up stories about them, or imagine how you might turn them into a character. While you don’t want to eavesdrop on private conversations, listening for dialogue or snippets of conversation can also spark ideas.

Play With Poetry

Poems can inspire ideas as well as emotions. Look for themes or imagery that you might want to explore, or even consider the type of character who might read or feel a connection to that poem. Think about what cultures or societies might be created if you used the poem or something within it as a foundation.

Listen to Music

Music can be powerful for a lot of writers, creating moods, inspiring imagery, or even creating a character. Pick a random song and imagine the type of character who would use it as her theme song, or pretend it was the first song a couple ever danced to.

Riff Off Favorite Books

You don’t want to copy someone else’s work (that’s plagiarism), but a favorite book—or even a book you disliked—can be used as a jumping off point to your own original idea. There might be something about that book you find compelling and want to explore in a different way, or maybe you would write that same idea from a new angle. You might even take your three favorite books or movies and pick one element from each to create your own plot.

For more inspiration, here's an exercise from Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure:

1. Pick three news articles or blog posts that intrigue you. What about them do you find compelling?
2. What location have you always wanted to visit? What secrets might it be hiding?
3. Pick your top ten images. What about them do you find captivating? Why?
4. What are your favorite names? Why? What happens when you turn those names into ones that would fit another genre, nationality, or ethic group? 
5. What are your least favorite novels, TV shows, or movies. How would you write them differently? 
6. What random conversations or person caught your eye recently? What about them was memorable? Why?

Next, list five combinations from these six questions you might want to explore further. Mix and match and put together the story types you enjoy with the topics that interest you. Use as many or as few as you’d like.

For example:

• If you want to write a thriller, try picking a news article that sounds intriguing, then set it in the location that most appeals to you—such as a medical thriller about stem cell research set in Taiwan.
• If you love heist capers, pick your favorite art piece and figure out how your character would steal it—such as an art thief tries to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. 
• If you love stories about redemption, try choosing a news story about a truly despicable person and come up with a way for her to redeem herself—such as a woman who killed her children tries to make amends by saving a family in trouble. 

For those really stuck pick:

• One genre or novel type that most interests you (For example, a fantasy)
• One type of plot you most enjoy (For example, a heist)
• One type of character you’re most drawn to (For example, a dark hero)
• One theme that appears most often in the stories you enjoy (For example, a personal sacrifice)
• One setting you’d most like to write in (For example, the Arctic)

Then put it all together:

A fantasy heist plot set in an arctic environment, with a dark hero who will have to make a personal sacrifice.

And brainstorm away! Keep mixing and matching until the right idea gets you so excited you can't help but dive right into planning it.

The struggle for ideas hits everyone at some point, at all stages of their career. If you're banging your head against the keyboard and feeling like a hopeless newbie, know that somewhere, some bestselling author is doing the same thing.

Where do you get your ideas?

Win a 10-Page Critique From Janice Hardy
Three Books. Three Months. Three Chances to Win.
To celebrate the release of my newest writing books, I'm going on a three-month blog tour--and each month, one lucky winner will receive a 10-page critique from me.
It's easy to enter. Simply visit leave a comment and enter the drawing via Rafflecopter. One entry per blog, but you can enter on every stop on the tour. At the end of each month, I'll randomly choose a winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for tips on writing your novel? Check out my book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a series of self-guided workshops that help you turn your idea into a novel, and the just-released companion guide, the Planning Your Novel Workbook.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, and the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook.  She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.

Choosing a Point of View Character

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Some stories come to us through the character and it's clear what point of view the novel will be told from. Others come through an idea or a plot and the point-of-view character isn't as clear. And then there are the stories that need several points of view to be the most effective.

Most of the time the point-of-view character is obvious, but I've written whole novels to later realize I had the wrong point-of-view character all along. Stories evolve, and it's not uncommon for one to surprise you and take you where you never expected to go. Or to have that tiny throw-away character turn out to be the hero after all.

If you're faced with a story idea and you aren't sure what the best point of view to tell it from, try asking a few questions. These questions can also help if you have a novel that isn't quite working and you're not sure why.

What character has the most to gain or lose?

A character might be in the right position to tell the story, but if she doesn't have a goal and has nothing at stake, then why are readers seeing the story through her eyes? Goals give the point-of-view character reasons to act, and stakes make readers care if she achieves those goals or not. If the character just sits back and watches the story unfold, but never participates in what's going on, she might not be the right point of view for the novel.

•    Which character is driving the plot of the story?
•    Which character faces the most conflict?
•    Which character can't walk away without changing how the story unfolds?
•    Which character is the most interesting?

What character is central to the climax of the novel?

The whole point of a novel is to get to the end, so the climax is a pretty big deal. It's the resolution of whatever the protagonist has been trying to do all novel. So the point-of-view character is going to be involved in that ending in an equally big way. If a potential point-of-view character doesn't play a role in the climax, that's a red flag that you might not need to see her point of view.

•    Which character is actively involved in the resolution of the novel?
•    Which character has things at stake in the climax?
•    Which character has the most at stake in the end?
•    Which character will readers feel cheated by if they don't see how that story turns out?

Is more than one point-of-view character needed?

Giving a character a point of view is asking readers to invest time in her, so this character should be worthy of that. Seeing the story from her perspective should bring something valuable to the novel. If the only reason a character is a point-of-view character is because parts of the novel can’t be told any other way, or because the protagonist wouldn’t be able to be there, that’s a red flag that the character is only there to dump information.

•    Is the story bigger than one single point-of-view character?
•    Is this an ensemble cast that explores a larger theme or concept more than a single personal problem?
•    Are there aspects of the plot that require a second point of view to be fully understood?
•    Is the antagonist's point of view needed?

What do multiple points of view allow you to accomplish?

More isn't always better, and the more characters you ask a reader to invest in, the more chances you have of losing the reader. Every point-of-view character has to be equally compelling and draw the reader in. Less interesting characters risk getting skimmed over to get back to the ones readers care about. If you're considering multiple points of view, look at the specific benefits each possible character brings to the story.

•    How might seeing this other perspective enhance the plot?
•    How might seeing this other perspective deepen the theme?
•    How might seeing this other perspective illustrate some aspect of the world?
•    Is this a character readers are going to want to follow?

If you don’t see that character’s point of view, what is lost?

Sometimes it’s easier to identify what points of view are needed by what disappears if the story isn’t told from that perspective. Try looking at the story without that point-of-view character and seeing how the story changes. Also consider if the critical elements could be added to the protagonist's point of view, or that of another character.

•    Can a specific element or detail be merged with another character?
•    Can two point-of-view characters be merged?
•    Would losing that detail or element actually raise the tension or mystery of the story?

Does every potential point-of-view character have her own plot or story goal?

If there are too many plots unfolding at once, the novel can feel disjointed and have too many things going on. Each plotline should connect to the core conflict in some way and work with the other plots and subplots to tell a complete story.

•    How does each point-of-view character's story arc affect the main plot?
•    Are there any story arcs that overlap or feel repetitious?
•    Are there any story arcs that overlap in a good way that increases the stakes or conflict?
•    Does every point-of-view character feel like a piece of the same novel, or do they feel like each one could have their own novel?

Finding the right character to tell your story can make or break that story. A great plot might draw a reader to a book, but the characters keep them reading. It's worth taking a little time to ensure you have the best point-of-view characters for your novel.

Have you ever written a novel with the wrong point-of-view character? Or points of view you didn't need?
Looking for tips on planning or revising your novel? Check out my newest book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a series of self-guided workshops that help you turn your idea into a novel.

Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure takes you step-by-step through finding and developing ideas, brainstorming stories, and crafting a solid plan for your novel—including a one-sentence pitch, summary hook blurb, and working synopsis.

Over 100 different exercises lead you through the novel-planning process, with ten workshops that build upon each other to flesh out your idea as much or as little as you need to do to start writing.

Find Exercises On:
- Creating Characters
- Choosing Point of View
- Determining the Conflict
- Finding Your Process
- Developing Your Plot
- And So Much More!

Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to planning your novel, as well as a handy tool for revising a first draft, or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working.

Janice Hardy is the author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, where she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her novels include The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The first book in her Foundations of Fiction series, Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is out now. She lives in Georgia with her husband, one yard zombie, three cats, and a very nervous freshwater eel. Find out more about writing at her site, Fiction University, or find her on Twitter @Janice_Hardy.

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