If you’re a writer, especially one that primarily writes in non-fiction, you can get sucked into the creativity abyss.  It’s where you head when the creative juices have died, when you no longer let the words flow with descriptive ease, and instead flounder along in the hum-drum world of facts and figures.

You know what I mean.  It’s the “7 Ways to Make Your Writing Better” type posts and the “How to Use Your Book as a Professional” stuff.  It doesn’t have to be stuffy, but it gets there.  Fortunately, there are some writing tools that can make your work more creative and less business-blah (that’s like business casual, but only gray suits and khaki pants allowed).

Physical Writing Prompts

The modern writer stares at a screen.  Sometimes it’s a screen in their hand, like a tablet; often it’s a laptop or desktop screen.  In the world of digital, things get lost.  Using physical writing tools can restore that creativity.

Index Cards – Using index cards, write out a handful of scenarios.  Those that, ideally, relate to what you’re writing about.  This works best in fiction, but can be adapted to non-fiction.  Sort of like the game Apples to Apples, you can interweave characters, plots, and scenes that are seemingly disconnected.

Sensory Walks – Get up from the computer, and go outside on a little walk.  Pay attention to your five senses.  What are you seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and hearing?  Often, we only pay attention to what we see, but jot down (or make a mental note) of the other things.  Weave those into your writing (it smells like curry in here).

Roll the Dice – Take out a piece of paper and write the numbers 1 to 12.  Some of those numbers get assigned settings (again, as they relate to your industry or writing).  Some get characters, some get plots, some get ideas or even keywords.  Roll the dice, and weave whatever comes up into your next piece.

Choose one, incorporate it into your writing, and let the creativity flow through you (in my case, we can use creativity and weirdness interchangeably).

Shake It Up Writing Prompts

Sometimes we just get caught up in our own heads.  We have used certain phrases so much, they’re just a part of our writing.  Now, it’s hard to get out of our heads and shake it up a bit.  Here are a few ways you can be creative by changing your style.

Use a Word Bank – I have clients in specific industries and I write regular blogs for them.  Chiropractors, personal injury lawyers, construction companies, and the like, they all have common words that are used often.  For these, I can dig deep and find even more words, then use those to build an entire blog around them.

Writing Constraints – Writing constraints are some of the simplest ways to force your brain into creative mode (and often some of the most difficult to actually employ).  For example, create your entire work without using the letter “O.”  Or, write every paragraph with exactly 100 words (shoot, do the entire blog with a specific number of words).  Something that severely limits your writing style, and forces you to tackle the topic from a new angle.

Opposite Day – Take what you want to talk about, and flip it on its head.  Here’s an easy one: “Do This to Fail as a Writer!” and then you write about the things that aren’t going to make it work as a writer.  Here’s a harder one: “Why Human Writers are Obsolete!”  If you’re a human writer, this really isn’t the stance you want to take.  But, you can force yourself to argue for the other side, and really lean into the concept from a different perspective.

Forcing yourself to look at the same concept from a different view is what some people call “thinking outside the box.”  If someone knows what box is being talked about here, please, fill me in.

Use a Professional Writing Tool

There are plenty of premium tools out there built and designed by actual writers.  I haven’t gone down this rabbit hole other than looking them up.  I’m not endorsing any of these other than saying they exist.

Morning Pages – Morning Pages is a section from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way.  Essentially, it’s writing 3 pages of journal every morning without regard to what you’re writing about.  Just get something down – it will spark creativity for throughout the day.

Steal Like an Artist – Steal Like an Artist is a book by Austin Kleon.  It’s not about “stealing” per se, but rather taking someone else’s work, modifying it and changing to become your own.  Imitation is, after all, the best form of flattery.

Bullet Journal – The Bullet Journal is all about taking those thoughts in your head, and organizing them in easy-to-digest pieces.  Instead of long rambling journal pages, it’s short, concise and easy to review.

If this type of thing is your bag, I encourage you to do a search for writing tools that make you more creative… hopefully this blog will rank first, then you can scroll down to find all the actual tools instead of the ramblings of a madman.  We can all dream, can’t we?

Or…. Hire a Professional Writer

One of the best writing tools you can use, is the mind of a professional writer.  Someone like the incredible Scott Sery.  Someone who writes books, blogs, newsletters, and more.  You can take some time off knowing that he’s slinging words of wit and wisdom (with the occasional dad joke woven in).

Sounds like something you want to take for a spin?

It’s as easy as booking some time to discuss your project and see where things go from there.