The question authors hate more than any other is “Where do you get all your ideas?”

And the reason we hate it is because our problem is not finding ideas. Our problem is figuring out which ideas are worth developing into a project. Every author I know has more ideas than hours in which to write.

If you struggle to find your own ideas, I have some advice.

Give up on being original. Go all in on being yourself. Write a book that’s just nothing but the shit YOU adore, and don’t worry if it’s been seen a thousand times before. Don’t worry if you only think you’ve seen it a thousand times before. Write something formulaic and derivative. Write something that looks like this:

The Coolest Protagonist In The Universe has a Big Problem. While she (my Coolest People in the Universe are always women but yours might not be) grapples with this, she encounters The Hottest Love Interest In History. They are instantly attracted to each other. However, the Big Problem she’s grappling with prevents The Coolest Protagonist In the Universe from getting with the Hottest Love Interest until about halfway through the story, at which time they have The Best Sex.

At that point, the Big Problem becomes either much more urgent, but now solvable through cooperation that was not possible before The Best Sex, or the Big Problem is revealed to not be much of a problem anymore, because of a new perspective on life brought about by the experience of the Best Sex. Either way, the Best Sex is the highlight of the story, the climax, if you will, of the narrative arc.

Then they live happily ever after, or they split up, or everyone dies. Just end it how it feels right to you for the story to end. Once you have done this, you’ll have a complete story, and once you have a complete story, you’ll have unlocked that part of yourself that understands what making a beginning, a middle, and an end looks like. This part of you is the key to developing new ideas and once you have understood it, ideas will be everywhere. You’ll have so many ideas you won’t have time to write them all down. The ideas will never stop. The flow will never cease.

Then you too will be cursed.