Brainstorming Ideas to Start a Novel

Most people think that starting a novel is very complicated. I'm here to tell you that's wrong. 

So how do I actually start a novel? 

All you need to start a novel is one idea. That's it.

Sounds pretty simple right? 

Yep. 

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things to do after you get that first idea, but without the first idea you can't do any of it. So there's no need to get bogged down in worrying about research, plotting, structure, chapters, characters, settings, editing, word counts or anything else. 

So where can I find this mythical first idea? 

Ideas are literally everywhere. 

You just have to look around. 

• Did you watch a movie yesterday? 

Maybe it gave you an idea for writing a romance set in Spain in 1902. Maybe it was an idea for a time travel romance between the Viking Era and the Victorian Era (hey, why does it always have to be from the present to the past? Why not do the past to the even further past?) Maybe Spain is just where they met but they were both from London or New York and found each other again and it was meant to be. 

• Did you take the bus home from work today? 

Maybe you passed an elderly man saying goodbye to his daughter, a sad expression on his face. Maybe that gave you the idea to include a sad goodbye in your novel. Maybe even between father and daughter, who might be on different sides of an argument. Maybe even about who the right man is for her? 

• Did you read a steamy romance last week? 

Maybe it made you realise that there are not enough love scenes where the characters make love on the stairs. Maybe because they are too into it to even make it to the bed. 

• Did you listen to any music over the weekend? 

Maybe it was a song about a man who felt jaded by love and only believed in his beer. But what would have happened if he'd believed in a woman instead? What if a woman hadn't broken his heart? What if he'd asked her to marry him and she'd walked away? What if she'd said yes instead? 

How did I come up with my ideas?

For Book 1 (Gabriel and Lillian) and Book 2 (Eamonn and Violet) I came up with the idea for the start of each story from listening to music. 

A song about a man following a girl home gave me the idea for Gabriel having been away and coming home and finding Lillian there. Another song gave me the idea of a man being chased through the woods and he runs through the creek to try to hide his footprints. From there I thought wouldn't it be fun if he found a beautiful woman at the most inopportune time? 

Where can you look for ideas? 

• Listen to music - listen carefully to the lyrics and write down the images that appear in your mind. Or watch music videos on YouTube and look at the images that they chose. Do any of these spark your ideas? I know it certainly does for me. 

• Watch TV - movies and TV shows are great for giving you ideas on what you love and hate. It can also give you ideas if you think about how you'd have made the movie work, or scenes you'd like to see in your novel. For example, a scene with a couple playing under the sheets on a warm day is a scene you could create in your novel. Does it lead to more sex, or does something happen like an interruption or a misunderstanding that pulls them apart? 

• Look at photos - go to sites like Unsplash or Pixabay and look at photos of different topics. This is especially good if you're stuck writing a scene, but can also spark that first idea. Write down your thoughts, take the photos and put them in a collage in a document or a digital tool like Milanote. 

• Look at old photo albums - check out the photo albums of your parents or grandparents (especially your grandparents if you want to write historical romance). Look at the things people did before the digital era. How did they date? Where did they go? What drew them together? Did they stay together for a long time? Why? Jot down notes on anything that comes to mind. 

• Talk to your family or friends - simple conversations with family and friends can spark new ideas. Maybe your best friend told you about a colleague of hers who is having a hard time finding love and it inspires you. Maybe your mum told you about an old lady who fell over at the supermarket that morning and it creates an image in your mind that is the start of your story. Maybe your younger brother stuck his head between the bars at the playground and it can be used as a tension scene in your novel? Talk to your grandparents and listen to their stories. Use those as the basis for ideas in your novel. 

• Read books - read books both in your genre, especially Historical Romance, and also outside your genre. You never quite know where a good idea will come from. Make a list or tracking sheet of the books you've read and the ideas you like. Even if you don't get an idea now, tracking what you did like about other books might collectively spark an idea in future. 

• Live your life but keep your eyes open - go to work, get stuck in traffic, feed the baby, watch tv after the gym, make a meal, call your mum, and whatever you do, collect these little moments in an ideas log. Feeding the baby might make you wanna pull your hair out because it's the 1000th time you've done it and you're sick of the little angle sucking your nipples raw, but hey, a tired mother looking for love who will do anything for their baby could just be the start to the story you need. Maybe she reaches out to others for help. Maybe her baby is kidnapped and the hero happens to be there when it happens? Maybe she is being held captive and your hero or heroine have to save her? 

See, ideas are literally everywhere! 

So, where are you going to get your next idea from? Leave me a comment and let me know where you got yours from. 

Or maybe you need my help? Head over to Twitter/X (@CreativeMariel) to see some of the great ideas I've had for sparking historical romances. See you over there.