As a follow-up to my recommendation to begin your own weekly writing column, here’s a little game that will help you come up with subject ideas.

WEEKLY WRITING COLUMN IDEA LIST

This game is intended to spark ideas for your weekly column.

Roll a d20 for each list, and combine.

Apply the subject to your current reading, or to your own writing.

Adapt the title to your liking. (Try switching out prepositions.)

Allow the insights to unfold.

ROLL:

1. Literary habits of…
2. Exploring the limits of…
3. Multiple re-readings of…
4. Misleading clues in…
5. Seasonal linguistic variations in…
6. The thematic modalities of…
7. The productive uncertainty of…
8. A private introduction to…
9. The alternative readings of…
10. Approaches to building…
11. Marginal notes on…
12. The interconnected images in…
13. The potential influence of…
14. Signs of temporal strata in…
15. Compelling techniques for…
16. The lexical landscape of…
17. The imagined history of…
18. A framework for interpreting…
19. The re-reading list as…
20. On the symbolic development of…

THEN ROLL:

1. The 5th paragraph
2. A lost conversation
3. Silence
4. Narrative time
5. Writers’ notebooks
6. Literary loves
7. A source text
8. A legend
9. A creativity myth
10. The End
11. Minor characters
12. Commonplace entries
13. Repetitions
14. The next page
15. A single line of dialogue
16. A plot point
17. A character’s voice
18. An atmospheric setting
19. A backstory
20. Adaptations

Also see:

☞ Tips for Organising Your Commonplace Book & Connecting Ideas