How to find a Topic

And I thought it was easy to become a writer. Yes, I made the mistake of thinking that the easiest thing I could do was to become a writer. After all, what does a writer do? She first thinks of a topic / a plot to write about and then puts her thoughts on paper, in words. That’s all; Simple enough. Or so I thought about 10 days ago and setup this blog. I also was stupid enough to think that I can write a short story in 5 days and post it. Now, here I am – wracking my brains to find a topic, a plot, something, anything - to write about. I haven’t been able to figure out anything yet, other than the topic “How to find a topic”. They say, ‘Failure is the best teacher’, so let me tell you how it doesn’t work – this search for a topic.

Initially, I wanted to write a short story with characters from my own life. But with a pen in hand, fear gripped me much before the first letter could get formed. Fear of letting my innermost thoughts come out into the story and God forbid, if any of those characters chanced upon my blog and recognized themselves – How would they react? Would they take it kindly?

So, to deal with this fear, I came up with another bright idea – to write a story about imaginary characters. Come on, now that’s what fiction is all about – about fictional characters. When J.K.Rowling can write seven novels out of some non-existent world, can’t I write a simple short story? So I set out to write a fictional short story. I tried again and again and yet again to get that bright idea; for that plot to form clearly in my mind; for that character to describe. Alas, it didn’t work. My imagination didn’t seem up to the mark. Worse, I did not have the time or patience to ignite my imagination.

There went the second option but while leaving, it gave me a gift of another option – copy a topic. Now, that was a doable option. Fine, it won’t be original but I can surely get inspired. So, I can pick from hundreds of topics already written about and write something original about it. So, I set out to read all those articles in recent newspapers, magazines - about hope, faith, fitness, relationships, and work-ethics - a mind boggling list of topics was ready in no time. But were my original thoughts ready? Neah. It took me some time to realize that all articles are written after research and come out the way they do after the desired efforts have been put in.

In exasperation, I chose the only topic on which I had done some research and had put in my efforts – ‘How to find a topic’.
It’s pretty simple really. Just follow these insightful guidelines –
• Keep your sensory organs and mind open. This will enable you to sense a topic when it comes along.
• Give it ample time. Don’t rush. Some topics and ideas take their own sweet time to form.
• Don’t have preconceived notions. Don’t attempt to write that emotional, heart-wrenching saga when your mood is in slap stick comedy mode. Be open to write just about anything.
• Don’t be fearful. If you are planning to write, know that you essentially are sharing your thoughts with everybody and you cannot control or predict their opinions and reactions. If you are scared, don’t write.
• Always know that this is not an exhaustive list and you will always be able to make some additions.

So, Happy topic finding then...