There are many ways you might make ideas you can use for your stories, articles and other creative pieces. Start with the three ways given below:

1. Put Your 5 Senses to Work

A simple but effective way to make fresh ideas from a single concept, idea or object is to describe or illustrate it using the 5 senses -- sight, smell, touch, taste, sound.

For you to do: Generate 5 defined images or concrete examples (one example for each sense) for the following:

- vindication (whats the smell of vindication? how does it taste? how does it sound? what does it look like? how does it feel?)
- hesitation
- celebration

2. Take Advantage of Your Conflicts

Conflict is a part of life. Its also a source of creativity. You only need to look at yourself and examine your experiences to come up with ideas based on conflicts.

For you to do: Whats stopping you from doing something? Who is in the way of you getting what you want? Whats stopping you from getting a career leap? Brainstorm for conflicts in your life and come up with at least 15 in your list.

3. Its OK to Call People Names

Generate nicknames or terms that capture the lifestyles, attitudes or characteristics of certain groups of everybody.

For example, the nicknames I came up for the kind of all the people I encountered on the bus when I used to commute to work and back were: space-hog, slumper, fidgeter and refined. The terms described how the many people on the bus behaved as they sat. [They were useful because I was able to avoid the space-hogs and the fidgeters when choosing a seat. Sitting beside a slumper was all right, since most slumpers kept their slumps within their space ;o)]

For you to do: Generate nicknames or terms for the following groups of people:

- cashiers
- waiters
- teachers
- employees
- actors

Begin using these 3 simple ways of generating ideas today. Before long, you will be churning out one idea after another with ease. Thats creativity at work!