As writers we are naturally observing wonderful ideas all around us in our everyday. We see more colour, more humour, more description, more everything than do the non-creative types balancing our energy in the universe.

So how does one get these ideas from our keen eye, processed through our observant brains and out onto the paper? For me unless I make a constant effort to write it down the observation is quickly lost. Training oneself to gather those ideas and log that which grabs your attention is a self-taught skill a writer will need to develop to create their own idea bank.

When something grabs your attention you must have a method of recording not just the idea but the sensory appeal of the moment. Details need to be noted to draw on later as you use the scenario for inspiration in your own storytelling. It is not just about writing down the facts, but rather about writing down the feelings. Don’t just jot down an observation but instead record the emotions. I heard one writer describe it as not just telling the reader it is raining, but leave them feeling like they are being rained upon.

Note where your emotions took you, what it felt like, smelled like and even sounded like if it is relevant to the experience. All these noted details will come in handy when in your writing you recreate the emotion through a similar event or a totally unrelated story line but a desire to invoke a similar experience in your reader. A reader has to relate to your work to enjoy it and connect with it. An emotional connection to an experience will give them that hook to your storyline.

I have a creative artist son who at a young age could describe his own sketching ability without even realizing his profoundness in his reality of his talents. I simply commented one day on how amazing he could draw a likeness of a face, and his response was one of those collecting the idea moments for me. It sticks with me still today and always as it applies to both writing and drawing as it is a creative process statement. What he said to me was, “I don’t draw the face I draw the light and shadows around it and the face appears”.

Writing is exactly that skill. Write the observations. Write what it smelled like, what it felt like, the emotions it invoked and the story will appear around the idea. As in the sketch lines on a work of art, in writing the words let the reader see the story. Your reader needs to feel what you felt and to be drawn in as you were when you first had the idea. Create a constant ongoing system to record and collect your ideas.