The Spreadsheet That Ends Your "What Do I Write?" Problem
You'll never again start from scratch once you have this system in place. Here's how to build a running bank of words, phrases, and story ideas you can actually use.
If the concept of taking time to build an idea factory sounds like extra work… let me assure you, it isn’t. Really, it’s the thing that makes all the other work go faster.
My friend Cindy created a simple system that combines a spreadsheet, a few categories, and the habit of writing things down. That’s it. The payoff is that you stop staring at a blank doc, hoping to summon the right word by sheer force of willpower.
I’ve kept something like this for years — mostly for subject lines and opening hooks, jotted in the notes section of my phone. It’s not glamorous, but it is glorious (because it works).
So I invite you to read this, and then actually build it.
To your writing success,
Mindy
Executive Editor, Barefoot Writer
4 Steps to Make Sure You Never Run Short of Story Ideas
By Cindy Cyr
Have you ever used an idea factory to enhance your writing projects? It can give you a ready source of words, phrases, and story ideas so you can create spicier copy. Plus, it’s a way to build up a bank of story concepts for any type of writing project you take on, such as emails, articles, and even headlines and leads.
Creating an idea factory came to mind when one of my new clients asked me to write 30 product descriptions. They had some basic descriptions created by their technical people that were “pretty vanilla.” My client wanted to know if I could “spice them up.”
One of the secrets to creating copy that motivates your prospect to continue reading is to get away from generic descriptions. Because when you use a generic description, your reader quickly falls asleep.
By using specific, vivid words, you can stimulate your reader’s senses. This helps them visualize pictures from their own personal “sense file.” For example, let’s look at the difference between these two descriptions:
“Learn how to run a successful business.” vs. “Discover the ‘Donald Trump Secret Recipe’ for making more while working less.”
Can you see the difference?
The problem is, sometimes it takes a while to come up with picture-perfect words, phrases, or ideas.
So here’s how you can build your own idea factory tool, adapted from a songwriter tool I picked up from author and Berklee College of Music professor Pat Pattison.
Step One: Set up your worksheet
Open a spreadsheet and label six separate pages and tabs with the following titles: article ideas, objection ideas, verbs, nouns, adjectives, and phrases.
Step Two: Create categories
Decide on some “starter categories” for each tabbed page.
For your article ideas page, consider categories that reflect topics you regularly write about, such as those for attracting clients to your writing business.
If you already have regular article clients, add their names or topics to your page also. For instance, I provide articles to a Pay-Per-Click specialist every month, so this is one of my categories.
For objection ideas you can use in autoresponders, promotions, and other copy, per the suggestion of Barefoot Writer Anthony Contreras, I’ve organized my categories according to common objections, like “too expensive,” “not enough time,” and “too difficult.”
The categories for phrases are similar to your objection idea page. However, you can expand this to include concepts or topics you write about regularly as well. Some of the categories on my page include making money, success, failure, selling, and writing.
Your nouns, verbs, and adjectives pages are a little more challenging to categorize, but you can group them by meaning.
For example, I have the word “money” on my noun page. That is the generic noun, and underneath it, I list a variety of nouns that mean “money.” “Greenbacks,” “bucks,” and “six-figures” — all fall under my “money” column.
Don’t worry too much about categorizing your nouns, verbs, and adjectives pages though. These pages are mainly for recording interesting words when you come across them and are useful for building your own metaphors and similes.
Step Three: Build your idea factory
If you’ve ever read a promotion and thought to yourself, “That’s a great line,” then you’re set to go with this concept.
Carry a small notepad or use a recording app on your smartphone to record all the great phrases, words, or story ideas you come across in your everyday life. Then transfer them to your spreadsheet so you have a bank of story starters when you’re ready to write.
Grab ideas from conversations, things you read and write, or anything you hear that inspires you. Like me, you might also consider spending time actively searching for great words and phrases to fill in your idea factory.
For example, the other day, I read a Facebook post where a reader used the term “toxic liar” in her comment. That created such a visual for me, I recorded it in my idea factory. It also sparked “toxic ideas” and “toxic business practices,” among other ideas.
Leave your idea factory open on your computer all the time. That way, when you run across something, you can easily copy and paste it into your file or quickly record an idea.
The more you do this, the more you’ll notice word choice and the better your writing will become. Not only that, the next time you need to create a headline, article, or autoresponder, you’ll already have a list of ideas waiting to inspire you.