Are you stuck on what to write?

In May last year I went to a networking event. Nothing unusual there. I met some interesting people and was enjoying it, until one person said something SO DISTURBING, that I had to leave the event as soon as I could to try and process it.
What was it?
Well, I was talking about writing and I mentioned the writers group that I run. This person then said that she didn’t believe copyright should exist, because no stories were original anyway.
She seemed fairly adamant that this was correct.
I was GOBSMACKED.
I actually couldn’t even argue with her, because I so horrified by what she’d said.
Even if you write a novel about a topic that’s been written about 100 times before – your words are unique. Your characters are different. Your take on the story will be different. It’s your creation and it definitely should be copyrighted.
People should not be allowed to copy what you’ve written. Or use your characters.
I couldn’t figure out why she would have said what I found SHOCKING.
I thought on it for a long time, and I thought that I finally had it figured out.
I realised that there were people in the world who never create anything artistic.
And these people often don’t value those who do create.
They download pirated copies of movies, music and books. They buy rip offs of designer item. They buy prints and posters, never any original art. They never think about the designers, and musician’s, and writers and artists who hardly earn anything anyway, and if no-body ever paid for movies, or books, or music, or design items, or art – then we might end up with no art in the world.
I worked with a guy once who had a friend who a musician. She hardly earned anything and said it was because were downloading her music for free. He said it was horrible. And then in the same story, told me he had a great app that gives him free music.
He didn’t even seem to put the two together. He was one of the people making his friend life miserable.
These people really piss me off (if you can’t tell).
I value art and music and design and writing and I pay for these so the artist, and musician and author and designer actually gets some money for what they’ve created.

So I figured that ‘I don’t believe in copyright’ girl must be one of those people who never create anything artistic.

And then PLOT TWIST…..

She joined my writers group!!!
And it turned out she’d been writing since was a teenager.
WTF??
I was blown away.
She’s a writer who doesn’t believe in copyright.
For months I tried to figure out what she meant (I didn’t ask her, because I didn’t want to hear any more warped views on the world to traumatise me!!).
And then my husband and I went on a trip to Malta. What a spectacular place. Stunning harbours, beautiful fortifications and amazing food. Anyway I digress. That’s not the point at all.
We were at a craft bar we’d found and were talking to some people.
And I told the story of copyright girl.
And finally someone told me the answer.
“She can’t come up with a story idea and wants to steal one. And how do you steal something without getting into trouble? You have to believe that copyright is wrong, and nothing is original.”

This made sense to me. Because I’ve met a lot of people who want to write, but they don’t know what to write about.
So rather than removing the concept of copyright and destroying artistic endeavours on planet earth, I have three ideas for you:

1. Pretty much every novelist writes an autobiographical novel first (often not published, but something that gives you experience writing a novel). So if you’re stuck on what to write – think about interesting bits of your own life. What could make a good novel? Or novella? Or even a short story? Think about something real, then work out how to fit it into a plot arc (because real life doesn’t work in the same way as a novel), flesh it out and use that as a base for your story.
2. Do some creative thinking training or read some books about creative thinking, and see if you can use this to spark a story idea. There are different brainstorming techniques that could help you come up with an idea and then build this into a plot.
3. If you’re still stuck – I can help. I run writing labs and this year I’m offering these as one-on-one sessions. And I have one about plotting a great story. I have a huge notebook of ideas that I’m never going to live long enough to write myself (and I refuse to use AI) so in a one-on-one session, I can help you come up with a great idea for a story (either your own, or based on one of my many ideas), and how this could work as a plot – so that you can get writing.

So if you’re stuck for ideas, let’s not destroy copyright and steal. There are still millions of great ideas for a story! You just have to find yours.

Has this inspired you to try and find an original story idea? Do you have a different method? I’d love to hear your thoughts!