How to Discover New Topics to Write About – 11 Ideas From Write2Rich

Last updated on May 30th, 2023 at 09:11 pm

Everyone needs topics to write about.

Teachers give topics to students at primary and high school level to hone their writing skills.

Writers regularly update their lists of writing topics in order that they remain productive. So do bloggers — they are big consumers of topics laden with keywords.

If you are a writer of any stature, you’ll feel good to have a huge list of topics to write about. It saves you from bumping into writers’ block. So, I advise you to become a natural creator and collector of topics that you are going to turn into full blown articles. And how do you do this? Don’t worry I’m going to explain everything.

Earlier I wrote about writing prompts. Though the present topic is also more or less like the writing prompts but the difference is that whereas the writing prompts immediately flash images of schoolchildren in our mind, this post on ‘topics to write about’ entails students as well as bloggers and writers at any stage of their career.

First, we shall discuss how and from where will a needy potential writer create or collect such topics. In the end I’ll provide a list of topics for your subject-inventory.

Opening photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

How to Discover New Topics to Write About

There are umpteen number of ways to discover new and interesting topics to write about. In other words, topics are scattered at all places you visit and in all the things that you imagine. Only your promptness and interest in writing decide how many topics you can find out in a day.

Let us explore the broad heads where there are plenty of topics waiting for writers:

#1 Daily events Around You

All around you, lots of events keep taking place. Most of them are general events from the point of view of a non-writer. However, since you are a writer or one in the make, you cannot turn a deaf ear to them. Listen to them carefully and with utmost concentration. You will get  many themes to focus on.

Sometimes I overhear a discussion and a single word or sentence therein appeals so much that it can give birth to an entire article.

Wilford’s boss punished him deducting from his pay a sum amounting 65 pounds in connection with an unavoidable mistake that he committed. I wrote a Facebook post of about 500 words on the issue.

I also penned an article on how I lost a bet on whether it would rain or not during the next 24 hours.

Why do I cite these examples? Because I want to make a statement. That, topics are lying all around you. You only need to switch your senses on and look beyond the events and hear the music in the background.

#2 Take a Cursory View on Page 3 of Daily Newspaper

Page 3 is a treasure house of local speculations. It is thronged with the news of achievements, crime, accidents and all sorts of native agenda.

It is the best place to steal a topic or two for your stories. You could also interweave such petty events into your novels or any other large sized article.

#3 Dig Petty Occurrences to Pen Full Blown Articles

Tom bought a car for his old parents.

Dig it.

What made Tom to buy the car? What was the cost of the car and its make? Did the car make a difference in the lives of Tom’s old parents? If you think deeply and go on digging the matter more and more you’ll come across a number of topics to write about.

For example,

How to bestow a long pending emotional gift upon your old parents

What kind of cars have maximum resell value?

I’ve a full article on this aspect of finding topics. Read it here:

How to dig an ordinary discussion to discover a huge number of shining blog post ideas (Writer’s block – a thing of the past )

#4 Cross-Connect Different Ideas in Your Imagination

You may think that discovering original topics for writing is difficult. But I will tell you that it’s not that difficult. Use this technique:

What is your niche? Is it sports? OK. Take an entirely different niche — say ‘finance’. Now, try to think of topics combining the two niches. For example, “Top 10 Sportsmen Who Earn Most Across the Year.”

Go on cross-connecting different topics and discovering new subjects to write about. I believe you can create plenty of them.

When you cross connect niches, you get different topics to write about.

#5 Read and Analyze News in Your Niche

It is very important to keep updating knowledge in your niche. As you do this, you will come across latest developments in your field. You get topics that are in real demand.

#6 Read Success Stories and Take Cues from the Traits of the Achievers

What is the USP of the achievers? How is it that a blind man scales Mt. Everest? Is it the magic of the traits that they culture?

Have you ever come across the ‘law of attraction’ and ‘law of assumption’ in connection with success stories?

Whatever it is, the lives and achievements of the successful people are great material for a writer to dwell upon.

More so, if you try to unfold the underlying secret of success of an achiever, that would definitely be a hit with the readers. Therefore, as I’ve repeatedly told, topics are lying in abundance all around you. Start cherry picking today and now.

#7 Write from Your Own Experience of Past Happenings

Our life is a book. We can discover more and more intriguing topics to write about if we turn old pages.

As a person moves through nostalgia, he meets his old self, childhood friends, school stories and a myriad of topics that he can put on paper. Move through nostalgic songs and movies and topics

That means, if you do not want to tread far and wide there are still lots of writing opportunities.

#8 Write About Application of Mind

Suppose you have a very tiny sized, high-speed motor that can be fitted on to one end of a one-inch diameter pipe of length 3 inches. The other end of the pipe is fitted with a sieve. If you insert the motor end with some force inside a fruit like a mango and turn the motor on, you’ll perhaps get a jet of mango juice coming out from the sieve end. It will work like a very small juicer.

Recently a kid aged about 12, explained this wonderful  juicer to me. He had, himself thought of this little juicer.

Write on such wonderful applications of mind. I bet people would credit you with the identity of an original writer.

#9 Write on Ethics and its Importance

Recently on 90th birthday of Warren Buffet, the maestro stock investor, I came across the fact that the stalwart intends to donate 99% of his massive wealth for the cause of charity. I think there are few instances I have heard of such selfless devotion to the welfare of the people.

There are huge number of ethical deeds that noble people perform regularly in this world of ours. So, why not spread the word of wisdom and good deeds. Write on such topics and feel good.

#10 Write about Evils Prevalent in the Society and Their Eradication

At every level and every class of the society there is a battle between good and evil, constantly going on. Smoking, tobacco chewing, excessive drinking and other habits hazardous to health are commonly prevalent. You can write on these evils and the ways to eradicate them.

#11 Write About Great People and Relevance of Their Thoughts Today

Once during my graduation a student interrupted the teacher saying, “Why do you say ‘Mahatma Gandhi has said…’, you should rather have used ‘Mahatma Gandhi said…’ He is a dead man.” To this, the teacher replied, “But his opinions are still alive. Great People may demise, their opinions live forever.”

You can read lives of the great beings and write articles on the events in their lives that made them great. These events have been told and retold a thousand times but remember every writer has her or his own perspective. You can rewrite the same story more beautifully, more differently and more levelheadedly.

List of Topics to Write About

Primary school students, high school students and even bloggers and beginner writers may use some of these topics selectively:

Random Topics :

  1. How do countries explore sea and ground oil?
  2. Is space exploration useful for mankind in any way?
  3. A journey back to your small, old town
  4. Rising prices of groceries
  5. Various uses of paper in our life
  6. Should everyone learn how to dance?
  7. The status of law and order in your town
  8. What steps may government take to improve the life and living in a rural area?
  9.  Should children drink tea?
  10. What happened when you saw two of your friends fighting?
  11. How does your teacher take care of the cleanliness of your classroom?
  12. How will you become a champion of the hop-step-jump game?
  13. What is the role of entrepreneurs in the development of a country?
  14. Compare and review the teaching of three teachers of your class.
  15. How are the street dogs becoming a menace to the people?
  16. A school trip to the sea coast
  17. Which quote by a great person has influenced you the most and why?
  18. Have you ever written a poem or short story? What was the subject and why did you choose it?
  19. Which indoor game do you like most and why?
  20. How will you create something on your own and sell it too for a price?
  21. What are the factors that you will definitely look for while pronouncing judgement of a case if you have to act as a judge in a court case?
  22. If you are to color sun, moon, clouds, rainbow and stars how will you color them?
  23. What precautions that should have been taken, did you not take during the lockdown? How did you manage?
  24. Do you think that corona crisis will go away one day? Write a paragraph on it.
  25. Have you ever seen a play on stage? How was it different from a movie?

Start to Enjoy Writing

A budding writer without a topic is like a lost traveler. He has no direction and he is confused as to which way he should move. But as soon as a writer gets a topic her gaze gets fixed.

Knowing the path she has to take, she moves aggressively and confidently. This works like a magic when you have a list of topics to write about.

I, therefore, advise you to start growing your writing list. It should have quality topics — topics that want you to explore facts and those that want you to imagine beyond the earth and the skies.