It is difficult for beginning writers to invent a topic for a future work. They are trying to remember something interesting, and when it does not work, they despair. How to be in this situation? Where to look for ideas? We will tell you how to find “your” topic, and about what to write a book so as not to look trivial.
What to write a book: 8 win-win options
About myself
Each of us knows a unique story - our own life. This is not an autobiographical work, the authors of which always strive to observe truthfulness. Memories from childhood, excerpts from personal life, sad stories, comic situations that happened to us once - this is exactly what can form the basis of the book.
You don't have to talk about yourself, but you can make the hero look like himself.
The advantages of such a "borrowing" is that the episodes will be exactly unique.
About the family tree of your family
You can try to write a work about your family, looking into its deep roots. To do this, you need to "dig up" information about distant relatives and a little imagination, using photographs or a document from the family archive as a figurative reinforcement. Pedigree - this is what you can write a book to benefit for yourself and your family.
Working on this topic will reveal interesting facts, family secrets and help you learn more about your own origins.
We'll have to process a lot of information, which means - learn how to systematize it, highlighting the main thing.
About the life of an unusual hero
If you think about it, then in our environment there will definitely be a person about whom you can write a whole novel. But if not a novel, then the story - exactly.
Sometimes a person’s life is an amazing story that doesn’t have to be written. It is enough to believe in it, to present and describe.
But if nothing comes to mind, you can use the following creative method. Its essence is to open its littered box of the table, to find in it an unusual thing. The one that is hard to imagine in a box of an ordinary, unattractive person. And now for the cause - you need to write a story about how the hero finds this strange thing in his desk, and how it changes his life.
About animals on their behalf
What does a book write about so that everyone likes it? On the life of the animal on his behalf. This is an unusual way to see the world through different eyes. Here is an approximate sequence of actions:
- Having defined the animals, you need to know more about him. Videos, scientific works, amateur photos - everything will come in handy. But the best thing is to see the beast with your own eyes.
- In order for the story to be fascinating, and not look like an article from a textbook, the animal needs to be humanized a little. That is, to make it the holders of human qualities (sense of humor, gentleness, mendacity, and so on), as well as a carrier of a peculiar character.
- Now you need to think about what interesting circumstances may be a hero. Well, when the donkey lives peacefully on the farm, but it will be much more interesting if he decides to escape from her.
About the magic world, its inhabitants
Sometimes it seems that it is already impossible to think of what to write a book about in order not to repeat. But writers continue to shock their readers with new, fantastic stories. They are very popular among children and adults, transferring them to a completely different world. Could JK Rowling have foreseen that the story of Harry the Loss would be the world's bestseller and favorite book of modern children?
Each author has a difficult, but fascinating task - to invent a unique hero and a unique world.
It is necessary to think about how a hero exists in this parallel reality.
Start with a portrait of the character. This may be, for example, a two-meter pink elf that feeds on pollen of tulips. What is his character? Who are his friends? Where does he take so many tulips to feed himself? And so on. As a result, this story can become a fairy tale for children, a fantasy novel or a plot for a comic book.
About your land
Literature dedicated to a particular locality, always has value for its inhabitants and writers in general.
Local legends, beliefs, myths, stories, sights - the answer to the question about what you can write a book to glorify their homeland.
To work you will need popular in this region toasts, songs, dialect expressions, games. With their help, you can convey the spirit of a particular locality and its inhabitants.
About historical events
Naturally, in order to analyze a historical event, give it an expert assessment, evaluate it in the context of modernity, you need to have at least a historical education.
But to invent a story that could happen during a war, revolution or the movement of nomadic tribes, can any writer.
You can pick up archives, old letters, photos and write a truly unique, original, interesting text.
About victories
Healing from tormented diseases, impressive weight loss, gaining physical fitness after trauma or childbirth, overcoming psychological diseases or phobias - this is what you can write a book to become famous. These are win-win topics. Their peculiarity is that they demand sincerity, honesty, perhaps, sometimes shocking candor.
If you start talking about your (or someone else's) way, there will be no turning back - you will not be able to keep silent. A detailed description of the technique, as well as the story of how a person came to it, can become a real helper for others.
A striking example is the famous book by Alan Carr "Easy way to quit smoking." For those who sought to get rid of nicotine addiction, his manual was a saving recipe, a formula for success.
What you can write a book: 5 steps to answer
We offer to fill out a questionnaire, answering questions which will make it clear what to write about the book. Treat your answers should be objective and critical.
Mot favorite books.
It is worth thinking about which books have become favorites of readers' preferences and write their names on a piece of paper. What unites all these works? It is necessary to formulate the answer from not slippery positions. Is it done? The future theme should be on the same wavelength with them.
What do I know, and how will this help others?
If you honestly answer this question, the list of possible topics significantly narrowed. You need to be a realist - the story of life on a submarine will be written better by the writer who actually attended it. And not the one who only heard about such a vessel. That is, you need to write out your knowledge in a generalized form. For example: "I know how to write off during the exam; how children behave at school; what to do if I get lost in the forest."
What is read around me?
The study of the demand for literature will provide an answer to the question "what can a book be written for to be read." Well, if the book is written on a topic that has not yet been revealed by anyone and is ready to surprise. But will it make sense if the work so no one read to the end? It must be remembered that marketing is first and foremost a study of the market. And if you want to buy a book from afar and buy, the pattern must be taken into account.
Without which it is impossible to imagine my future book?
Using the technique of "free writing" (free writing) is to write down all the points that will give the subconscious. These are the contours of the future theme.
How should the book affect the reader?
If we sincerely want to cheer, cheer up, distract from problems, then the theme must be chosen appropriate. Everything should be logical - satire and, for example, the theme of the hunger strike is better not to connect.
These are one of the few techniques that help the authors answer the question "What should I write a book about?". In fact, there is an incredible amount. The main thing is that they are not afraid to start working on them, to believe in themselves and to give free rein to fantasy.
