Creative Writing Topics: Inspiration from Objects

Focusing on detail
One quick and easy way to come up with great creative writing topics is by focusing on small objects and details. Picking an element from everyday surroundings and then expanding on its character can generate genuinely interesting plots. This process is better than random plot generation because the story will evolve organically rather than being forced into shape.

Building a story from the bottom-up, rather than the top-down, can be a liberating experience. If you try and build a story from an overarching perspective and then 'fill in the blanks', you'll probably find your mind wants to wander down familiar paths and revisit old thematic devices. By working on a micro scale, you remove the boundaries of convention and give your creative mind room to experiment.

Creative writing classes
Generating stories from detail is a great way to encourage students in creative writing classes to get started. Intelligent, creative students will often rebel when prescribed a storyline to follow. This is especially true if the archetype of the story is overly familiar to them.

Another commonly used creative writing teaching resource is random plot generation. Students are given a device or a spreadsheet to refer to and create a random plot, which they are then expected to mold into a cogent story. This process is difficult for writers that are not confident or inexperienced. Because the plots contain jarring, 'interesting' situations and people, quite a lot of effort has to be spent by the students in making their plots come together, rather than enjoying the process of creating. Creative writing lessons should have some element of problem-solving, but writing isn't only about puzzles.

It should be clear that letting creative writing students come up with their own creative writing topics, with some structured guidance, is an excellent way to teach creative writing. With that in mind, here's an exercise that you can use that will guide you through sparking stories from objects.

Exercise: Creating a story from an object.

As I write this article, I'm sitting at a friend's kitchen table. In the mess around the house I can see an ugly garden gnome, a stuffed dinosaur, some plush toadstool-footrests, a pink bar stool, a couple of miniature flags and a string of Christmas lights. I would much rather pick those than my wallet, keys, and iPhone.

Step 2: Observe the objects and note details.
Bring the objects close to you. Feel them. Look over them, noting any imperfections or oddities. Get the heft of the object. Think about each of them quickly. What experiences have you had with them already? Could you tell a story about any of those?

Thoughts for stories will sometimes leap out at you directly. Other times, they will sidle up to you sneakily and wait for your peripheral vision to catch a glimpse of them. It can be hard to relax into a state where ideas will flow to you if you feel under pressure or stressed. This can be a conundrum when you first try exercises like this, especially if you're excited! Perseverance is key here.

Step 3: Extrapolate.
Now you have your objects and their details well observed, start to expand your thoughts around the objects in different ways. Keep some scribble paper handy. Once you get flowing, you might come up with more creative writing topics than you can keep track of!

Try the following list to see if any ideas get sparked off:

• Manufacture. How was the object manufactured? What sort of person built it? Was it made with love, care, attention? Mindlessly churned out on a production line? Who designed it? How would the objects maker feel about it now?
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• Improve the object. Make it more valuable. Increase the quality of the product, beyond what is realistic. Make it out of valuable materials. Have it operate with unrealistic efficiency. Make it faster, sharper, stronger, lighter, sturdier, more flexible, user-friendly. Who would want to use it now? Would it be sought-after? What would change about it?
• Deteriorate the object. Make it grottier, grimier, less functional. Make it cheap and tawdry. Have it barely function, or function erratically.
• Have the object be dangerous, either in function or through its ownership. How could your object pose a danger to someone?
• Make the object more extreme. Shrink it. Blow it up. Invert it. Have it be a prototype. Have it be the last of its kind. Put it in a glass box in a museum. Leave it in a junk-heap.
• Who owns it? Why? How did they get it? Do they care about it? What would they do to keep it? Do they want to get rid of it? What troubles does it bring them? What benefits?

I hope this article and the exercise above gave you some insight into how small, everyday objects can spark interesting stories. The more you practice observing the world and the things in it, the more stories will come to you. For more creative writing topics, head to the archives and browse through the articles there.

Go write!