How to Generate Endless Numbers of Ideas for Essays

This method uses notes scribbled on notepaper, lists compiled on computer documents, and temporary post-it-notes and permanent idea cards created for specific essays
1. Scribble all new ideas that come to mind on scraps of notepaper. Ideas can come from just pondering something, reading something new, rereading your previous writings, watching TV or a movie, or doing anything else at any time. Have notepaper and a pen nearby at all times. I also generate ideas by randomly combining words. 2. Create an Idea List in your word processing document in which you will write all the ideas you generate, no matter how general or specific. Create a separate Idea List document per broad topic, a topic you know you will write many essays about. It helps if the broad topic is something you are obsessive about. (Mine are: The American Character, Evolution and Emergence, The Free Society, The Mind, and Accelerating Technology.) Try to generate some ideas and write them into your Idea Lists every day. 3. Use 3x5 cards for your permanent ideas. You will never need larger cards. These ideas will remain in your Idea Files as well, but the cards will allow you to shuffle them, spread them out on a table, pair them, stack them, and in general play with them. When you are writing an essay, you may also want to use post-it notes for ideas specific to that particular essay. These will be unlikely to be reused in additional essays. 4. Use different colored cards for ideas in different broad categories. You will want to be able to tell at a glance as to which broad topic each idea belongs to IF you ever want to mix and match ideas from different broad categories. 5. When you feel you have enough ideas in your Idea List to play with, go through the list and pull ideas out that you believe will make for an interesting essay. Try different combinations until one configuration of ideas strikes a chord. Thats the topic of your next essay. 6. Write only one of those ideas on each card. Make sure you pick the right color cards for the broad category in which you will be writing. You will be keeping these cards for future essays in that broad category. 7. One idea per card allows flexibility of thought. It permits you to reuse it in endless combinations with others. 8. In writing down the idea, use as few words as possible. But make sure there is enough there to describe the idea coherently to yourself years from now. Using abbreviations will help, but make sure theyre crystal clear. 9. Each permanent idea should be easy to grasp with one glance.

10. If you think the idea will only work with the one essay, write it on a post-it-note. You can always write it on a permanent card later if you change your mind. 11. Brainstorm additional ideas for your essay. Look at already existing cards, notes, writings, etc. Think about your growing mental model of the essay. Write down any ideas that come to mind either on post-it-notes or your Idea List. Transfer any ideas you know will serve as good permanent ideas to cards. 12. When you feel you have enough ideas, quickly glance through your pile of cards and post-it-notes. If any, on re-examination, do not seem to fit the topic of the essay you are envisioning, put those cards away in your Permanent Idea Card file. 13. If there seems to be gaps that need filling, brainstorm some more for the needed ideas. Ask yourself what facts and evidence you need to support your essay. Write all of your answers down on post-it-notes. Are there books and essays you can go to for support? Write these down on post-it-notes. 14. Spread out all of your cards and post-it-notes on a table. 15. Study them carefully. Ponder the shape of the ideas, how they cluster in your mind. 16. Put related ideas together in piles. 17. Check each pile to be sure the ideas are related. Do this several times until all cards and post-it-notes have a home. If some dont, consider making new piles of them or putting them in the Permanent Idea Card file, or discarding those that are on post-it-notes. 18. Make a topic card for each pile. Place each one on top of its pile. 19. Study all topic cards. Do they seem to cover a large portion of your essay topic, a substantial portion? Do they seem to make key points? Extremely important points? If so, then you know that each one will serve as the equivalent of the old Roman numeral subtitles in your high school essay outline. You neednt create that kind of outline, but itll help to know your key points are well in hand when you write. You will write your entire essay around them. If not, consider rearranging your cards and notes in new piles until you are satisfied with the selection and importance of the topic cards. 20. Decide on a sequence of topic cards to present your ideas. Does each topic seem to suggest the next? If so, you have the broad outline. Write it down in a new Word document dedicated to your essay. Headline this list Broad Outline, 3 to 6 of these points should suffice for an ordinary essay. For a book-length essay, you will have to outline several layers deep, or perhaps build chapters out of separate essays. 21. Try this several times: Write each broad outline down in your document. Try rearranging topic cards to find as many interesting sequences as possible until you are satisfied that one and only one particular sequence will present the flow of ideas in the very best way possible. Think about how you could handle each sequence (but dont write these thoughts down). Just mentally picture it for now.

22. You may find when writing the essay that the order of topics doesnt work as well as you thought it would. Simply rearrange as you discover newer and better arrangements. The outline exists to trigger your creative thoughts and to get you going. It can be scrapped whenever necessary. 23. Now go through each pile of cards and notes in the order you established and create an interior order for these cards and notes. Do so over and over again until (again) you are convinced you simply cant find a better way to present all of the portions of the essay. Do this with each pile. When you are done, go through them and satisfy yourself that all the cards and notes are in the correct order. Create a detailed outline in your Word document by writing down every word you have written on the cards and notes in the order you have established. Title it Detailed Outline. 24. You can now take all of the permanent cards and place them in the Permanent Idea Card File. Take the time to go through the Post-it-notes and decide if the idea is now worthy to be saved for future essays. If so, write it on a card and file it in the file. If not, toss it. 25. You now not only have a solid outline with which to write an essay, but also numerous permanent ideas for future essays. Write the essay. Change anything that needs to be changed. You will feel secure in your writing when you realize you will NEVER be looking at a blank screen. There will always be ideas waiting for you to write about exactly where you need them in your document. 26. Go through this process every time you write an essay in that particular broad category, knowing you are adding to a larger and larger pool of additional ideas for additional essays. Go into your Permanent Idea Card file anytime you feel the need for inspiration. Grab all the cards you have in that category and lay them out on the table. Mix and match. Have fun with the combinations that appear, no matter how apparently silly. You may find that youve generated a dozen new ideas for future essays at o ne sitting. Make sure to write them down in your Idea File. 27. Use this same process to start creating new pools of ideas for your other broad categories. Dont be afraid to mix and match between broad categories now and then. Just randomly grab some ideas from Category A, B, and C. Spread them on the table, shuffle them, and combine them over and over again. At times you may come up with a genuinely novel and potent combination of ideas that no one has ever considered before. Write it in your Idea File. And then gather ideas as described above and write that essay. Perhaps your essay will win a writers prize. Good luck.