david baldacci’s recommendation for finding new ideas for novels is based on looking at the world through a writer’s prism.
“You can’t see the world in black and white. Your job is to see the world and realize the potential of what’s out there.” -David Baldacci
There’s no one way to create ideas. If you go out into the world and experience things, you can imagine alternative scenarios for everything you see. This is one of the greatest ways to exercise your creativity.
R.L. Stine recommends going to the “idea store” as a similar concept of what categories you could pull ideas from.
The ideas you use in your novels should include the things you’re passionate about. If you’re not passionate about the concepts and topic you’re integrating into your novel, you’re not going to stick with it (or at least, it will be far more difficult to).
When you’re passionate about the topic:
- Plots are better
- Focus is greater
- Writing is higher quality
Baldacci says you also need to let the idea percolate. Don’t jump in too fast - maybe walk around with it for a couple of weeks for the threads to build. Plots, characters, dialogue, research required, etc. All of that is important for writing plausibly and effectively.
As a writing exercise, you can combine two very different ideas. It challenges your creativity by finding some kind of strange but plausible link between vastly different concepts.