5 Simple Questions That Will Give You 25 New Writing Ideas

“Then my husband hung up on me.”

I was in a coaching call the other day with a wonderful “student” of mine. They were having some problems coming up with writing ideas, so we did an exercise together.

I asked about their life, and they began telling me their story.

And guess what?

It was GREAT fun listening to this person. An hour later, we had 18 new writing ideas which very well might spawn many more.

In one story, my student spoke of how they moved to a new country and called their husband because they got lost. Their husband asked where they were and my student said something like “If I knew that I wouldn’t be calling you.”

Then their husband hung up on them.

That story was hilarious to me, and it got me thinking..

1. I love hearing people’s stories.
2. You are way more interesting than you think.

Yes, You Have A Great Story

If you’re currently breathing and are older than 12, then congratulations, you have a great story.

This planet is way too interesting for you to not have great stories to recount. One time my?fiancé?told me a story about a lady who came on the metro with her grand daughter.

She then proceeded to let out the biggest audible fart you could imagine.

The smell permeated the entire cabin, and on the next stop the lady slowly got off the train as if NOTHING HAPPENED.

That’s hilarious.

If I asked every person on the metro whether they have some crazy metro story, they’d probably be able to recount a couple.

If we’re not interesting, chances are we’ve come into contact with people who are maddeningly interesting.

Write about them.

After coaching thousands of writing students, it’s clear to me that EVERY SINGLE PERSON has great stories waiting to be told. It’s our job as coaches to convince them of that AND surface them. It’s kind of like solving a puzzle. Every person’s got a beautiful 10,000 piece puzzle inside them (eh, maybe not the best example), and it’s our job to help them see that.

5 Questions That Will Give You 25 Writing Ideas

Alright, here’s some free coaching for you. But you’ll need to do this, in part, on your own. Here we go:

Answer these questions:

1. What were the 5 happiest moments of your life?
2. What were the 5 saddest moments of your life?
3. Last year, what were the 5 toughest challenges for you?
4. Last year, what 5 accomplishments were you most proud of?
5. Tell me 5 moments from your life where you overcame a ton of adversity.

Okay, if you answer all those questions, you’ll have 25 kernels of good stories. Great stuff!

Now you have to:

1. Recount them in a post.
2. Tell us what your story taught you.

That’s it. It’s real simple.?Tell us the story,?and tell us what you learned. I’m ALL ears. I want to learn about you.

I’ll let you in on a secret here:

The best stories happen in the face of extreme adversity. It’s what made?Top Gun: Maverick?such a damn good movie. Their mission seemed impossible. You could feel the danger oozing from the screen in the final act.

All of my questions are designed to zero in on moments from your life where you encountered a lot of adversity, and what it taught you. If you ONLY stick with that as you write in 2023, you’ll see a marked improvement in how well your posts resonate.

Get my free 5-day course about how to get your first 1,000 followers on Medium?right here . :)