Chapter 2: How to Pick a Topic to Write About

Everytime you are trying to write something, you have to pick a topic first. That´s right. A topic you are going to write about. But how to pick a great and most of all interesting theme?

Well... picking a topic for your blog post, article or even novel can be sometimes really tricky. Blogging is the easiest one, I would say. You should blog about something you like, about your life, about your hobbies. Simply about something you know very well and you understand it. For example let´s say you LOVE fashion. You are falling asleep with Vogue in your hands every night, you know everything about new S/S collection by Marc Jacobs, so writing about fashion should be easy for you, right? Picking up a topic in this particular area will come naturally to you.

Writing article for magazine or newspaper can be slightly challenging. You are not writing just for yourself, you are looking for some audience here. You have to write about something that will instantly catch reader´s attention. You want to make some noise with your article. So you have a couple of options:

• Controversy – shocking people (in a good or in a bad way) has never failed, when you´re looking for attention (Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus are great example).
• Humor – people like to laugh and they like making other people laugh even more. When you write something funny, others will share your article like crazy.
• Emotions – do you know how to make people cry only using your words? Then do it! What are you waiting for? Profound articles make people think that they are reading something valuable and they´re not just wasting time reading some meaningless stories.
• Trends – you can comment with your article what´s going on in the world right now.

And finally, picking topic for your first or next novel. That´s the hard one. If you want to be a writer, I´m sure you have been struggling with this issue as well. Key to picking a great topic for your novel is to be original. Don´t be affraid to open door and let your „creative you“ in. Play around with different ideas. When something suddenly hits you, don´t wait, write that idea down ASAP. It may not be your best idea but you just never know.... In couple of years you can build wonderful story around it. Go with your instinct. It doesn´t have to be perfect. Just write and you´ll see where is story taking you. There is just one rule. Never ever try to copy something that is popular at the moment. Do you want to write about hot sparkling vampires? Sorry, that one is taken. How about young wizard with a scar on his forehead? Yap, that one too, I´m afraid. Don´t copy popular stories. Just be yourself and I´m sure, you´ll come up with something truly amazing! :)