A Look at the Writing Prompts Used by Top Medium Writers (With Examples)
I’ve summarised the best hacks to boost creativity
I’ve been struggling with my writing mojo lately.
But, I do love a project and I’ve been researching where/how other Medium writers get their inspiration.
Let’s dive right in:
1. Look at Quora to see what people are asking
Instead of brainstorming ideas yourself, why not piggyback off the questions already out there?
Quora is an online Q&A platform with ~300 million subscribers all asking, searching or contributing to questions raised by other users.
Jon Brosio has written about how to use Quora to find problems (within a specific niche) that people are trying to solve.
Jon includes simple screen shots which anyone can follow. It’s very clear he he enjoys getting all forensic and urges people go deep and click on the “View Stats and Log” section which kicks up ‘some juicy details,’ namely, the total viewership of the question and the follower count.
Key Takeaway: For anyone with a specific subject in mind, Quora is an underrated resource and Jon makes it easy to master. Check out his article here:
2. Be Intentional. Listen to your surroundings.
Jessica Levine is a rare find. She is truly in love with finding an idea and working it through to publish (or not).
‘I always seem to be going about my day looking for my next story. I can’t wait to see where it will take me, and I even find that writing helps me learn about parts of myself that I wasn’t fully aware of. It’s just a true passion’.
Jessica clearly has her writers goggles on from the minute she wakes up and starts her day.
Whether she knows it or not — Jessica is so engaged with the writing process that she has successfully trained her brain to flag ideas and capture these for later:
As I go through my day, if inspiration strikes, I write down a title and a brief description of my main topic below it and I save it in my Medium drafts. I am grateful that Medium has an app that we can read and write from!
Look around you, inspiration may just be around the corner.
Key Takeaways: Lean into your day, observe the world around you. Take note of events, conversations, thoughts, whatever grabs your attention. Don’t try and edit these. Review later and see what stands out.
3. Scan Twitter/X
Although I’m personally not on Twitter/X, I know plenty of writers swear by it both for ideation and marketing.
Smillew Rahcuef has used Twitter as the inspiration behind a couple of his articles. I like this one.
We get a sense of Smillew’s love/hate with Twitter and he writes after 72 hours of intense tweeting, his eyes are ‘bleeding’.
‘Countless accounts share the same videos time and time again. If something goes viral, everybody will jump on it like vultures on a Hawaiian pizza…’.
As an observer of these attention seeking antics, he also queries the legalities of “curating” content from the internet. Influencers are reposting content on twitter/X and making money from the curation (which is not their original idea).
I’m not sure where copyright law is at vis a vis social media but it’s a good call out and has got me thinking about copycat culture.
Smillew then shares that he’s seen some weird stuff on Twitter/X.
‘The worst accounts are part of the FAFO “movement” (Fuck Around and Find Out). They post videos of people hurting themselves while attempting stupid stunts for fun or likes’.
Before signing off, he shares a final observation that asking math (brain) teasers is a trend that will result in comments/replies (which the Twitter/X account holder wants for revenue). Who would have thought?
I like how this article really has no agenda. Smillew is just highlighting what he is noticing and throwing in a some original insights along the way.
Takeaway: If you literally have nothing to write about — dive into whatever platform you’re on, be it Medium, Twitter/X, or YouTube and explore what others are doing, then ask why they are doing it. That’s an article right there.
4. Build your idea muscle with these strategies
For James Altucher, the American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and bestselling author, discipline is key. Of the more than 20 companies he has founded or cofounded, 17 have failed, but three of them have made him tens of millions of dollars.
If you can't generate ten ideas, Altucher says, you need to focus on generating 20. How? By doing the work. To start developing your "idea muscle," write down ten of your ideas every morning on your tablet or in a tiny notebook, Altucher recommends.
The theory behind this is that the doing is more important than the ideas themselves.
This is because creating a habit of generating ideas builds confidence where you prove to yourself that it is possible to create on demand.
Key Takeaways: Practice Regularly. Don’t expect your ideas to be perfect; perfectionism is your enemy. Just practice to practice.
5. Join the dots and ask ‘what if?’
One of my favourite writers, Eve Arnold writes that
Some of the best inventions in the world, and even the best ideas you’ve ever had, likely come from connecting two dots around you. My most viral article ever, came from not knowing what to write about and then 10 minutes later, the postman arrived with a handwritten letter.
Eve suggests if you’re struggling to come up with ideas to market your side project, things to write about, or of ways to create try connecting two seemingly unlikable ideas.
- Riding a bike and writing a letter.
- Reading a book and thinking about cereal.
- Habits and coffee.
Daniel DiPiazza of Rich20Something takes a similar approach with creating new products and developing ideas.
He says ‘I learned to play simple games like Mix and Match, which is where you bring two completely different ideas together to create something new. I learned to ask myself, “What if?”
The idea is that it shouldn’t feel like hard work. It should feel easy and fun just like how playtime is for a child.
Key Takeaway: Take inspiration from your habits and environment (literally look at your kitchen, shops, office etc and see if there is an link with an event, habit or a belief — think vegans + heavy machinery, working out + real estate, divorce + travel etc). It is often the wacky ideas that get noticed.
6. Tell a story — write about your past
Jonah Sachs, CEO of Free Range Studios and author of Winning the Story Wars encourages writers to mine their own past experiences for inspiration.
Sachs asks ‘Think of a moment in which your own failures led to success in your career, or a lesson that a parent or mentor imparted. Any of these things can be interesting, emotional entry points to a story.”
In her article, Niki Tizsa uses her unconventional childhood as a launching pad. She writes about how she attended elementary school in Hungary (Hungarian was her mother tongue) and largely benefitted from supporting teachers who encouraged her to write.
But, at high school, a certain Ms Taylor, smashed her confidence (and her dream of becoming a writer) to bits.
She even laughed at one of my writings. An essay that I poured my heart and soul into. It was demoralizing.
She told me I wasn’t good enough to make it as a writer.
Nikki takes us through how she carried the bruises from Ms Taylor right up to university. When she started her first blog she even used a pen name so that Ms Taylor couldn’t find and bully her online.
There is so much that everyone can relate to in Nikki’s story. Nearly everyone has their own version of “Ms Taylor” growing up.
Nikki shares a really personal experience here and that is what makes it a great story. It’s impossible to read her article and not feel empathy for the young dejected writer who ultimately finds peace, success and gratitude.
Key Takeaway: Look back on a point in your life and pick out an event and/or a period of time that only you can talk to. What experience(s) have you had that is special to you? Tell that story.
Conclusion
I have really loved writing this article and digging into what is working for some people and hope it may help others out there who want to try a fresh approach.
To summarise, try these for inspiration:
- Check out Quora for problems in your niche. Find one and solve it.
- Pay attention to your surroundings. (I mean ditch the earphones and really listen in).
- Scan Twitter/X — there is some weird stuff out there.
- Strengthen your idea muscle (practice writing 10 ideas each day — just do it already).
- Join the dots. Play around with different random things and ask what if? Is there a link?
- Look back at your childhood/other point in time. Tell a story that is unique to you.
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