5 tips to find inspired book ideas to write

Hannah Maes
Feb 9, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Apr 12, 2023

Every writer faces this problem at some point in their career: what do I write about?

Before I give you my tips to find new book ideas, there’s ONE golden rule that I want to share with you first:

Write what you want to read.

Don’t start a mystery novel if you don’t enjoy reading those type of books, because believe me, you’ll lose your motivation and you will have spent time writing a book that never gets finished.

Instead, think about which genres you like and stick to one of those. For example: I like to read Fantasy and Romance and my WIP (work-in-progress) is a fantasy novel with a hint of romance.

Now let’s find that inspired book idea for you to write!

Tip #1: Make a smoothie of stories you already love

I’ll give credit where it’s due. This tip comes from one of my favourite author YouTubers: Abbie Emmons. Watch her videos, they have helped me so much!

What do I mean with a smoothie of stories? Make a list of at least 4 stories that you love and get your creativity flowing. You can choose any form of storytelling for this: film, series, books, graphic novels, theater, ballets, operas, songs, …

Once you have the list, think about which story element you like the most about that story:

Genre: Where and when does the story take place? What is the vibe of the story?
Plot: What happens in the story?
Characters: Who is the story about? What is the relationship between the characters?
Theme: What is the overall idea or premise of the story?

Now let’s mix!

For each story element (genre, plot, characters, theme) you fill in one of the stories you love, but make sure that they fit together nicely. Let me give you an example with stories that I particularly love.

Genre: A Court of Thorns and Roses (Sarah J. Maas)
Plot: Encanto (Disney)
Characters: Pride & Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Theme: Frozen 2 (Disney): everyone has an important role to play

Story idea from this mix: In the land of High Fae and magical creatures, Anra is born without any special power, while her entire somewhat unhinged family has magic abilities. One day a High Fae Lord visits their small estate and Anra is immediately affronted by his prideful and vain demeanour. She doesn’t trust him, and rightly so because he tries to steal the magic source of her family’s magic, weakening and affecting the powers of her family members, except her. She is the only one now who can stop the High Lord from destroying the magic source all together. After all seems lost, Anra proves her worthiness by stopping the High Lord, opening the eyes of her family of her potential.

See how easy this is? And you’ll be inspired and motivated to write the story, because it’s a combination of stories that you already love. You just have added your personal touch, making it a unique story. Let’s move on to the next tip.

Tip #2: Be careful with writing prompts

I’ll just come out and say it. Watch out with writing prompts. Why? Because choosing a writing prompt to write an entire novel or short story around is dangerous if you’re not keeping the one crucial question in mind:

Why does this story matter to you?

If the writing prompt or the story that springs from it has no meaning to you, it will be very difficult to write the story. So, choose wisely! And don’t be afraid to abandon the story idea if you notice that it doesn’t work for you.

This doesn’t mean that writing prompts are always bad and that you can’t use them to get the creative juices flowing. Here you have an overview of 20 of my favourite writing prompts!

Tip #3: Get inspiration from your dreams, music, art, …

A woman sitting in a chair enjoying a warm beverage

Dreams. Music. Art. What do they have all in common? Right: story! Let your mind visit the worlds and aesthetics that they have created and you would be surprised how many ideas flow to you. I once started writing a story based on a dream I had about a castle being overrun with enemies and the two princes and two princesses had to flee. And I went from there. Maybe that’ll be published some day… Who knows?

Tip #4: Use your genre’s necessary plot points as a guide

Imagine this: you want to write a mystery novel, but you have no idea where and how to start. Let the structure of the genre itself help you, because almost every mystery novel is built up by the same elements:

Somebody is murdered.
Investigators start the investigation.
Investigators find some leads that bring them closer to the culprit.
The culprit wants to avoid getting caught and does something unexpected.
Ultimately, the investigators can apprehend the culprit.

If you know what your readers expect from a book like yours, it will be easier to build a plot. Use the knowledge of book genres to your advantage!

Tip #5: Pingpong ideas with a (writer) friend

Writing can sometimes be a lonely hobby or job. What better way than to get some social time in than to pingpong ideas with a friend? They can provide another perspective you hadn’t thought about before and give their honest opinion on your idea to make it more compelling and mesmerising.

Your best option is pingpong with somebody who has some knowledge about storytelling or experience with writing fiction. But not everybody has that. If you don’t know where to find such people, you can also subscribe to my newsletter, because subscribers get access to my Facebook community where we talk about all things writing-related. That’s the perfect place to meet like-minded people who would love to help you with your idea. Don’t hesitate to write a post in the group asking for my help!

Interested to join my exclusive writing community? Subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Let’s summarise

So, that marks the end of my tips to find book ideas. Do you have more tips? Write them in the comments for other aspiring authors to see and use. And which tip did you find most helpful? I’d love to know.

Let’s sum up all the tips for easy reference: