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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7868
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> What do you do if you enjoy writing, but have no ideas?

A few ideas:

- technical writing

- any form of nonfiction

- edit other people's stories

> I don't really do unrestrained creativity, I need a concrete problem, which "make up something interesting" isn't.

If you try to do it all at once, "make up something interesting" can certainly be a tall order. Try breaking it down: first come up with something -- anything -- _and then_ make it interesting. Start with any boring old cliché; now the problem isn't to come up with something interesting, it's to make the thing that you've got interesting. That's a much more concrete problem, and you might have an easier time being creative when you're not working with a completely blank slate.

> Anything I've written in the past, I've just happened to get an idea

I think that's pretty common in any field -- people get ideas in the shower, while they're sleeping, driving to the office, pretty much anytime other than when they're sitting at a computer ready to work. So try to be open to ideas whenever and wherever they might drift into your brain. Some people keep a notebook at the bedside or even a grease pencil in the shower.

Also, sometimes the first idea you have will turn out not to be such a good one, but it may lead to other, better ideas. There are lots of different exercises that people use to get their ideas flowing. You could try something like:

- Write down 10 ideas, no matter how bad they are. Keep each one to a single sentence.

- Pick the best 3 ideas of the 10 and write a complete but extremely short story for each. Give yourself a limit, like 150 words or less.

- Expand the best of the three into a few pages.

Original score: 9