Where do you get your best ideas? When you're stuck, one of the best ways to come up with an idea is to get a little messy and play with words!



The Littlest Word Chef is making art dough today. First, she mixes the cream of tartar, salt and flour. (Maybe you could doodle on your paper. Write a few words that remind you of your topic. Let's get the other story ingredients on the page. What do you need? A beginning? A middle? An end? Some characters?)



After adding water and oil, she stirs the mixture on medium heat until it looks like dough. (Now, stir things up. Can you change the setting? Change a character? Make a character older or younger? What's the opposite of your topic? What character is the opposite of one you've already chosen? What would happen if you turned one into a dragon or a butterfly? Watch your story take a new form when you mix things up!)



After the dough cools, she kneads the dough and adds flour until the dough is not sticky anymore. (Once you have the basic idea, play with it a bit. Move sentences around. Start or end in a diffferent place. Play the "what if..." game. What if the Goldilocks visited her Grandmother in space? What if the Wolf was really an alien? What if....)



What happened? Her creation has changed! It's not that plain, old flour mixture! It's not even white anymore! (When you play with words, you take something ordinary and make it extraordinary!)



She keeps kneading the dough to mix all the red food coloring. (Don't be afraid to revise. Keep at it! Nothing is wasted except the paper you are using. Every time you revise, you learn something new that will help you in this project or in a later project. Don't be afraid to get dirty!)



Never be afraid to PLAY with words! The basic ingredients will transform into something beautiful (or creepy or mysterious!) when you take the time to PLAY!


 Another Tip: Your toys can be another source of inspiration. Did you know that lots of writers play with toys to spark fresh ideas? Some copywriters I know play with Play-Doh, action figures and Legos when they need inspiration. The key is to stop thinking so hard and to let your imagination take over. Relax, let your mind wander, and the ideas will come to you!