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7 Perfect Places to Find Your Next Article Idea

Don’t freak! Your next 101 articles are probably looking right at you.

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7 Perfect Places to Find Your Next Article Idea
The Women's Room

Your deadline is coming up fast and all you can do is stare at a blank page. Don’t freak! Your next 101 articles are probably looking right at you. Whether they’re hiding on your FB profile, pinned to the wall of your dorm room, or penned into the calendar of what you’re doing Thursday night, you’ve probably already written them down.

Here’s 7 prompt-rich ways to find your next article idea:

1. What was your last text, Facebook status, or tweet about?

If you’re really in need of writing inspiration, look at the last thing you wrote about! Were you sounding off about how you felt on a bad day? Say it through 21 F.R.I.E.N.D.S. gifs that totally relate.

Were you reminding the world that your favorite childhood show was completely underrated? That nostalgia can easily become a fierce declaration of the greatest hits of your generation. What cartoons did you tune into every Saturday morning? Help an audience you relate to very well remember the greatness that was Jimmy Neutron, or Kim Possible!

Were you voicing your thoughts on Doctor Who’s first female Doctor? There’s an interesting opinion piece!

Were you complaining to your friend about a roommate? Write about pet peeves every college roommate goes through, or 17 things that remind you love them anyway!

If you were passionate enough to post it or text about it, you probably have plenty of fuel for your weekly article!

2. What’s trending?

Trending topics are usually things that you already have on your mind and have some decided opinion about, or will have some interest in! They’re characterized by people wanting to talk about them and share media on them, which is great for creators who are hoping to be seen and heard!

Trending headlines are full of opportunities for responses to a political or even entertainment controversies: Vogue’s representation of “gender fluidity”, Black Chyna and Rob Kardashian’s post-baby breakup, Kathy Griffin and her Trump joke, the Republican-lead health care bill, Russian and ongoing investigations, et cetera. You can even talk about what a newly late celebrity meant to you, or mourn a canceled TV show. (Were you inspired by Carrie Fisher? Are you not over Netflix dropping Sense8?)

If it’s trending, you already have an audience, and we all have strong feelings about some kind of news!

3 .What are your values and what do you live life by?

This can be anything from your religion to your lifestyle! . What do you wish people knew about your worship services? What myths or prejudices do you want to dispel about your identities? What’s special and underrepresented about your spiritual, cultural, or ideological community? What do you mean if you say “kindness” or “love” is your religion? Did you leave your parents' faith? What are your feelings on organized religion, or fate, or soul mates, or the American dream, or morality, or philosophy, or the role of culture or science in your beliefs? How do you explain or talk about your values or spirituality or faith? What do they mean to you?

Nearly everyone has answers to any one of these questions, and the diversity of articles that can come out of any one of them is what makes them great prompts!

4. What are you passionate about?

This can be a general idea, like ‘art’ or ‘politics’ or ‘science’ or ‘books’. If your answer to this question is somewhat general, ask yourself if you know a lot about it. If so, take out a notebook and write a list of as many specific subtopics about it as you can. These should be so specific than any one line is an article waiting to be written!

However, your passions don’t all have to be broad subjects. It can be something as simple as being a fan of a certain celebrity (everyone wants to see college life interpreted through Beyoncé gifs!), a show you love (if the world doesn’t know how completely in love I am with Supernatural, I’m not doing my job right), or a hobby (are you a masterful mini-golfer? Tell us about it!).

5. What’s important to you and what does standing for it mean to you?

Not everyone identifies with the word “activist”, but everyone stands for something (even if it’s the freedom to not get involved, for you rebels without a cause out there)! Who did you vote for and why? What is your political, moral, or personal platform? What is unexpected or controversial about that? It can be about how people should treat animals, who you voted for, or what you feel people are making too big or too little a deal about. I just wrote an article about why extroverts should stop pressuring their introvert friends into going to parties. It doesn’t have to be profound, just take advantage of your sounding board!

Maybe you have strong feelings against or in defense of something relevant right now. Do you wish people would stop talking about (or stop hating on) reality TV stars? Do you defend (or judge) your friends for bringing a stuffed animal to college, or listening to a certain kind of music? Are you tired of hovering parents at school, or do you think people are too hard on affectionate parents? What are your impressions of students at your rival school?

6. What is the first thing people say about you?

Is it an identity, a character trait, or a strange talent? Are you religious, athletic, poetic, artistic, or creative? What do you do that makes people say so? What’s your major, why did you choose it, and what are signs that fellow majors would identify with? Are you short, or tall? Loud or quiet? Political? Non-confrontational? Who are you? You can write about relatable struggles, or the best things about it!

Are you brilliant? What assumptions to people make about smart girls? What study habits have you perfected into a tips-article that you are SO ready to share with the world?

Think about how you describe yourself, or how others describe you, then break it down. What makes them say that? What stories are you perfectly qualified to tell?

7. What challenges have you overcome?

Did you have a hard time adjusting to college? What are your secrets for work-life balance? How do you fight burnout during finals week? How have you dealt with prejudice, or setbacks, or socioeconomic struggles? I often find inspiration in talking about being a first gen college student, or a depression survivor, among other things. You can give advice, or just tell the world what they should know about your experiences.

This can even be the accomplishment that you most known for! How did you do it? What advice can you give? I’m often asked about getting a full ride, writing a book, or going to a women’s college. You can talk about running a marathon, winning (or losing!) a huge game, securing an impressive summer job, how to ask for a recommendation letter, or whatever else you’re proud of.

Look around your room: what’s on your walls? (Think of MTV Room Raiders: what does it say about you! Are there medals, degrees, awards, posters?) What do your parents brag about? How do your friends introduce you?

Ideas are everywhere! You can scroll through your newsfeed, take out a notebook and journal about your day, think about how you describe yourself in a bio, teach someone how to do something simple (like things you should do on LinkedIn or Instagram as an undergrad, or find the picture recycle bin on an iPhone, or make a recipe that only people from your home know how to make!), put your spin on a news recap, or tell the world what you think on something important.

There’s no need for writer’s block – but if you’re suffering from it, you can always write an article about the struggle (#relatable).

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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