Writing creative writing, story writing and other writings by Rob Hopcott

Creative writers see a bridge as the sum of all the people involved in its building, their achievements and tragedies.

Previously, I described how reading fiction can be a very good way to generate ideas for writing but, perhaps more surprisingly, reading nonfiction often provides me with a good idea for writing too.

Interestingly, the writing ideas generated by reading nonfiction are frequently unrelated to nonfiction topics. Reading non-fiction, for me, often generates great ideas for fictional stories too.

An article about NASA and space exploration could generate an idea for writing a science fiction story involving intelligent insect life that had been lying dormant on Mars for many thousands of years.

A book about digging an underground railroad tunnel through a mountain range might spark off ideas for a political thriller involving high value public contracts and corruption.

An article in a newspaper can be of enormous value. Perhaps there’s been a bank robbery or statistics are given about how the credit crunch has increased the number of home repossessions. The pain and anguish caused to many from losing their homes during the recent World financial crises is an area that is soon bound to be exploited by writers worldwide.

Even reading a book that is now inaccurate and out of date such as an old physics or chemistry book could spark off the idea for a story. Just holding the book and imagining all the people who have held that book before could set me thinking of ideas for writing about their lives, their loves and the world that they lived in.

However, reading nonfiction actively is vital to make the ideas for writing flow most productively. This involves thinking around the topic covered and giving it a human face. From the point of view of history, a bridge was built, perhaps bigger than ever before, but from the point of view of the designer who conceived it and the engineers who built the bridge it was an enterprise involving personal success, fulfillment or tragedy and it is in the human stories around the bridge-building that the ideas for writing are found.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott - online writer