Being a creative writer can be tough work. Many people believe that writing creatively is easy, but it is a lot harder than many are apt to admit. It involves long hours, deep thought, research, and a flourishing imagination. As a novice writer, I have picked up a few tips that help get the creative juices flowing, and I would like to share them with other aspiring writers:

1. Listen to music you have never heard before.

I love listening to music when I'm in the mood to write. I really like finding a new Pandora station or combing through YouTube music videos for new music. Sometimes it is a crapshoot, but other times I find an inspirational song that pushes my writing forward.

2. Go outside. Watch. Listen.

Simply walking outside and taking a stroll around the block, or sitting and watching people drive or walk by has inspired me. You never know what may show up. Maybe a pink truck will drive by, or a three-legged dog will strut past, or perhaps it will just be another day. Either way, there is something outside of your room that can inspire you in some way. Just watch and listen for it. Take in what your senses tell you.

3. Explore a new space.

Have you ever wanted to go to an apple orchard? Or a museum you heard about? Take a trip there! Explore the space, take it in, note the distinctive features you see, smell, and hear. What does it make you feel? Content? Happy? Anxious? Take it all in.

4. Research new topics.

Have you ever wondered how to make a specific recipe? Or how to drive stick? Research it! A writer researches the things that interest them, or that their characters are interested in, in order to write a whole person. Specificity is the key to believability. Use it to your advantage.

5. Look at a newspaper.

A tip I learned over the past summer was to look at a newspaper for ideas. Find a random article, find the first word on the page, and use it as the first word in your new piece. Find the final word on the page, use that in your final sentence. Fill in the middle. This definitely helps with finding a beginning and end.

6. Expand your vocabulary.

Grab a thesaurus or a dictionary and look up new words. Look up words to replace your words that are just plain and simple. Make your word choices work to your advantage. If you don't have time to look at a dictionary, get a Word of the Day app on your phone. These send you notifications with new words on the daily and usually give definitions. Challenge yourself to use these.

7. Interview a friend, professor, or someone you just met.

Some of my best writing is inspired by real people and events in their lives. I never use their stories directly to write, but I twist them in such a way to work for my story. You don't always have to get their life story, but tease parts of their lives out of them, and borrow what you think would work for you. Try not to copy their words or their life exactly. Perhaps, try and write the opposite of this person. Write about a person who is unlike the person you interview.

8. Keep a daily writing journal. On paper.

Write sentences, paragraphs, fragments, poems, anything. Just write it down in a notebook. Keep the notebook with you as much as possible. Write anything that shocks or inspires you down on a piece of paper. Come back to it. It may be worth something later on.

9. Record your dreams.

I'm a lucid dreamer, and I always have been. Many of my dreams feel so real that I think that I am really there. As soon as you wake from these dreams, write down what you can remember. Keep it in your journal if it helps. No matter how bizarre the dream is, record it.

10. Outline traits of your characters.

Ask yourself what the character wants, or thinks they want. Write it down on an index card. Write their traits. What color of hair do they have? Do they like broccoli? Do they hate riding a bicycle? Write it down on their index card, anything that makes them them. Keep this in mind when writing them into existence. Sometimes they just need one little quirk and they become fully fleshed out.