Can Boredom Make You a Better Writer?

In today’s hyper-connected digital world, it’s hard to imagine life without the internet and all the benefits technology brings. A wifi-free world might be unthinkable for GenZ, but those of us of a ‘certain age’ have fond memories of our free-range childhoods and a time when digital distractions simply didn’t exist.

We had no mobile phones, social media had yet to be invented and we couldn’t get Siri, Alexa or ChatGPT to answer our questions on demand. If we needed to know something, we either asked an adult or looked it up in a book (yes, I am THAT old).

While it might be hard to imagine such a world now, it’ll be more than familiar to anyone over the age of 60. It was very common to be bored as a kid, and we were expected to amuse and entertain ourselves. If I ever grumbled that I was bored my mother would never suggest a trip to the cinema – her quick reply was “find yourself something to do or I’ll find something for you!”

So to avoid tedious household chores I’d soon be busy – I’d read a book, start a craft project or get outside to rollerskate or ride my bike (occasionally ending up in A&E – there were no helmets and knee pads back then either!). It was completely normal to spend most of the summer holidays outdoors and unsupervised. Boredom was our problem, not our parents.

The average 1970s kid’s bedroom consisted of basic furniture and a few toys and books – as a teenager, you were lucky if you had the luxuries of a lava lamp, a cassette player and a couple of mix tapes to play on endless repeat. But our electronic deprivation gave us space to explore ideas and use our imagination.

This kind of free range childhood might be unthinkable to those who’ve grown up with constant adult supervision and an iPad as an extra parent. But our imagination and creativity flourished because our minds weren’t constantly crammed with attention-grabbing ‘stuff’.

No Time to Think

We now spend our lives rushing from one activity to the next. Digital distractions are everywhere, and it’s so easy to start scrolling your phone at the first sign of boredom. Sadly, that makes it hard for our creativity to emerge and develop in a natural way. It ends up being squeezed into the margins of life, or even eliminated completely.

Creativity isn’t a tap that you can switch on and off on demand. It needs time, attention, nurturing, and practice. And yes, perhaps even a few moments of boredom to allow the constant mental chatter to quieten down and your imagination to spark back into life.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take some time to unplug and make space for new habits in your life. It’s easy to feel that there’s no time to write when you spend hours replying to emails and WhatsApp messages. I challenge you to do a word count one day, you might be surprised how much time you actually spend writing!

Check out the suggestions below and see if something tempts you to put down your phone and pick up a pen instead. You never know, trying something new could trigger the start of a best-selling novel or Hollywood screenplay.

Notebooks are Your Creative Friend

Every successful writer shares this tip: always carry a notebook with you so you can capture random thoughts before they disappear! It’s easy to think you’ll remember all your amazing ideas, only to find they’ve evaporated by the time you get back to your desk or laptop.

Become more mindful in observing everyday life. A snippet of overheard dialogue, a brief description of the landscape, the way the light illuminates a particular object, or that lonely man who sits in the pub every day with his pint and the crossword are all things that could trigger ideas for a story, a character, a plot or an article to pitch to a magazine.

Start to build up a library of your observations and ideas. You could also take photos on your mobile phone as you go through your day – an image can become a powerful prompt when you sit down to write.

Activate Your Observational Skills

Get into the habit of paying attention to what’s going on around you whenever you get the chance: during the school run, on your commute, during your lunch break or while walking the dog.

Take notice of mundane things like street signs, advertising hoardings, names on lorries and vans – we’re surrounded by random words and images that could trigger a name for a character or an idea for a plot. 

Play around with colour. Experiment with paints, crayons, watercolours, felt pens, Playdo, whatever feels fun for you. I love how colour sharpens our vision and shifts the way we perceive the world. My first Creative Writing MA assignment was a 5,000-word analysis of the Sean Baker film Tangerine, a bright and brash slice-of-West-Hollywood life shot on an iPhone 5.

I watched the film multiple times during a dark cold January, and noticed whenever I went for a walk, instead of just seeing bare tree branches and monochromatic murky skies, my eyes were constantly picking out bright colours – distant holly berries, an abandoned traffic cone, a toddler wearing yellow wellies in the park, a neon shop sign. Even tiny spots of colour stood out and drew my attention, making me look at life (and winter) in a very different way. 

A fun exercise to hone your observational skills and tune your senses is ‘colour spotting’. Simply choose a specific colour for the day, then make a note of how many times you spot it throughout the day – it could be an item in a shop window, a passing car, someone’s coat or bag, a dog’s collar or a scrap of litter caught in a fence. It’s a great way to practice paying close attention to details and training your eye to see what others often miss.

Imagination + Observation = Creativity

Part of training your creative muscle involves paying deeper attention to the world around you. Put your phone away and involve all your senses – not just what you can see but also what you can hear, taste, smell and feel. Look out for things that are unexpected, unusual, that pique your curiosity to find out more.

Change your regular route and explore the backroads, pathways and public spaces in your neighbourhood. Research local events and talks and (Meetup and Eventbrite are two good sources of information). Visit museums and art galleries, or hop on a train or bus to explore a new location – you don’t have to travel far to see something new.

Antiques and collectables markets are great opportunities to explore previous decades and lifestyles. Ask the stall holder’s permission to take photos for your research – you never know when a description of that mid-century furniture or hotel chandelier might bring an extra layer of detail to your novel or short story. 

Browse in bookshops or your local library and explore unfamiliar subjects or those you’ve always wanted to know more about – art, history, photography, archaeology, music, whatever niche catches your eye.

Tune into what you can hear around you in coffee shops, on public transport, at the pub or anywhere you can sit quietly and observe (I’m not suggesting you invade people’s privacy, just keep an ear out for random snatches of conversation).

Make a note of the things you overhear. Note the vocabulary, phrasing, or an accent that might become details for a character. People tend to discuss the matters of the day over a pint or a cup of coffee, so it’s also a good way to get to know what’s getting attention and maybe come up with an idea for a blog post, an article to pitch to a magazine or even a non-fiction book.

Get chatting to people and find out more about them, their work, their hobbies, their life experiences. I recently met Jason Sandy, a Thames mudlarker – the idea of discovering long-buried treasure washed up at low tide fascinates me! If you want to learn more, check out his book Mudlarks: Treasures From The Thames

Trust The Writing Process

Writing is something you do in layers; it doesn’t start with the first sentence and come out of your head perfectly structured like polished edited prose. It’s clunky, messy, lumpy and out of sequence, rough and ready, even fragmented. This is completely normal; it’s the process of creating your raw material. Don’t discard it just because it doesn’t arrive perfectly formed – that would be like throwing out the contents of your fridge because it wasn’t a fully cooked meal ready to serve. 

Experiment with a visual portfolio to support your writing. Find images that convey the emotions you want to evoke in the reader related to setting, mood, atmosphere, voice, character or tension. Free stock photography like Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay are great sources of photos, illustrations and even music and video that you can use to create a mood board to inspire and energise your writing.

Allow Your Ideas To Float 

Don’t trap your ideas down too quickly. Draft them out, then give them space to breathe, expand, grow. Let your brain make connections, link one idea to another, or to other knowledge, a memory or experience. Try not to polish your words dull before they have a chance to shine!

If your ideas come in a torrent, capture them quickly and think yourself lucky. If they come slowly, be kind to them, nurture them, cultivate them, allow them to take their time. Remember that nothing exists until you bring it into being. All writing starts out as an empty page, so have courage and patience.

Write anything that comes into your mind – random words, sentences, phrases. Write about a dream you remember, an interview you heard on the radio, a song lyric that’s stuck in your head. Let the writing cogs in your brain start to move. They might be slow at first, even a little rusty, but trust that things will soon warm up and the words will start to flow. 

Cross-pollinate Your Creativity

Writing is only one form of creativity, and your creative muscle can benefit from immersion in other forms too. Listen to music, dance, paint, sketch, take photographs. If you don’t feel you have any artistic abilities, try something like a jigsaw, collage or paint by numbers kit, or even play with your kids Lego. Explore free art apps for your PC, Mac or iPad, check out creative courses and workshops on platforms like Udemy and Domestika, or click here for our roundup of The Open University’s free Open Learn creative writing courses.

Allow your creativity to take up space in your life – if you need more convincing of its benefits to your health and wellbeing, this BBC Culture article features advice from successful creatives including Julia Cameron, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Ken Robinson and Amy Tan.

I’d love to hear how you get on!