Top 3 Ways to Find Ideas by Kirsti Call

11/18/2015

November is a big month for writers. It’s National Novel Writing Month or (NaNoWriMo). And for those of us who write picture books? This month is Picture Book Idea Month or (PiBoIdMo).

The challenge is to think of one picture book idea a day. Daunting? Yes! But not nearly as daunting as writing an entire 50,000 word novel in one month.

Tara Lazar, the founder of PiBoIdMo, told me that nearly 1800 people registered for PiBoIdMo this year. As a community we’re coming up with a bazillion ideas!

This is my 3rd year participating in this challenge and sometimes I feel like every idea is a bust. A sun with a fever? A tire that gets car sick? Who would want to read about A leaf that is scared of falling off the tree? But as Josh Funk emphasized in his PiBoIdMo post, sometimes it’s the most terrible ideas that make the best books!

Here are 3 ways to get your ideas flowing.

Think about your childhood. Try to remember what you liked as a child, experiences you had, games you loved to play etc. These are great fodder for amazing stories! See above, a picture of 5 year old me, most likely contemplating my next story idea.
Observe the children in your life. I get most of my ideas from my 5 kids. The Raindrop Who Couldn’t Fall wouldn’t exist if my children hadn’t felt bored at Home Depot on a rainy day. And when my kindergartener started wearing bow ties every day last week, I knew there was a story waiting to be told.

3. Pick 2 random words from the dictionary and combine them. If all else fails, taking two words and trying to make them fit into a fun story is a great exercise in creativity and might just end up inspiring your best work!

What do you do to get your ideas flowing?

Kirsti Call is a homeschooling mom of five. Her debut picture book, The Raindrop Who Couldn't Fall, came out December 2013 with Character Publishing. Her family band, Calling Out, plays songs written by her children. She contributes to Writer's Rumpus, and Kids are Writers. If you visit her house, you’ll likely find her reading or writing. You can find out more about her at www.kirsticall.com.

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Audrey Couloumbis

11/19/2015 09:12:22 am

there's a wonderful line from the movie, under the tuscan sun, "terrible ideas are like playground bullies, sometimes they turn out to be geniuses." i'm not sure i got that line exactly right, but it's in the first few minutes of the film (probably right at minute three because it's the statement of theme). it's what i remind myself of whenever i have doubts about the story i'm working on.

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