Anyone who pitches articles or writes stories is always on the lookout for more sources of ideas. There are lots of well-trodden sources, but here are a few I use that might be less obvious.

Foreign titles.

Publications from other countries, readily available online, can be a rich source of ideas. Based in England, I get lots of ideas from titles in the US, Australia, Canada, Scotland, and more. But I also look at European titles. I once found a French health magazine with an article called ‘Why are you always late?’ I sold a piece looking at the psychology of lateness to a British title.

Ideas from ideas.

One idea can often be cut different ways. I realised lateness was an interesting topic, for example, and was later able to sell a different piece on the changing etiquette of timekeeping in the digital world to a woman’s magazine.

Answer the Public.

The many tools for generating search keywords are great for content ideas. I like Answer the Public, which scans autocomplete data from search engines ‘then quickly cranks out everyuseful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword.’ You get limited free daily searches, so choose wisely.

Eavesdropping.

Listening in to conversations on the bus or in the supermarket can often yield interesting ideas. Much of the dialogue in my short stories is based on things I’ve heard people say.

Children.

My kids are always saying things that give me ideas for articles or stories. Once I asked my eight-year-old son what I should write about. ‘A superhero that can’t fly,’ he said, and I ended up writing a story about just that, called ‘Nothing So Blue’, collected in my book of shorts titled Hotel du Jack.

Odd jobs.

It’s amazing to me the things people do for a living. Once I read an article on pollution which quoted a man from a supermarket who was described as a ‘shopping cart technologist’. Interesting article, but what I really wanted to know was: what does a shopping cart technologist do all day? So I tracked him down, and interviewed him.

Back issues.

Ideas come round and readers have short memories. Consulting old issues of newsletter or magazine, or using Wayback Machine, the internet’s own archive, is a great way to dig up old ideas that you can give a fresh spin and pitch anew.

Bath or shower.

People often get their best ideas in the bath or shower, a time when we switch off worries and creative thoughts can come bubbling through. So have something waterproof like this to jot them down.

Awareness Days.

Did you know that March 1 is National Peanut Lover’s Day? Or that March 20 is National Ravioli Day? And April 4 is National Pillow Fight Day? As sites like this one show, there’s an awareness day for pretty much anything. Ideas for articles galore!

Always wanted to know…

What happens to the left luggage that doesn’t get reclaimed? If my government is in debt, who does it actually owe the money to? Can cheese really give you nightmares? If there’s a question you’ve always wanted an answer to, chances are that others will want to know too. Good sources: Quora queries, Reddit threads, Google predictive searches (play around with phrases like ‘Is it true that…’?) — and your own conversations.

As always, keep your radar on and be receptive to an idea when it arrives. Wherever it strikes, make a note, even if you’re not quite sure what to with it yet. Just writing this piece has given me an idea for a whole book!

See more of Dan Brotzel’s articles about writing on Medium

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