Scorum is a place for sports fans to unite with others and share their interests and passion with a community. Not everyone who joins is a seasoned writer who is used to churning out post after post. Since it's my job to come up with ideas and turn them into articles quickly, it comes easy to me, but all writers run into slumps where they have a hard time coming up with new topics to write about. 

During those times, I turn to a few techniques in order to generate new ideas, and I want to share those with you today. @Swolesome and I discussed how to come up with topics to write about in Episode 1 of the Scorum Community Podcast (listen here, the conversation on this topic starts at 19:45).

Whenever you're in need of help coming up with new topics, come back to this list or feel free to ask me for help. 

Ideas for Coming Up with New Article Topics

#1. Look for Inspiration 

If nothing is coming to you, sometimes you have to search for it. As a fan of the Detroit Lions football team, one of the things I do on a regular basis is search in Google to see what has been written about them over the past few days. These articles give me an overview of what's happening, and helps me come up with new topics. 

For example, the top result here is "Detroit Lions record predictions, stats leaders and Super Bowl picks." I could write my own article predicting their record for the upcoming season (which I've already done this year). I could take that a step further and write an article about "Why the Detroit Lions Will Win the Super Bowl" or "Why the Detroit Lions Will Miss the Playoffs in 2018." Instead of just copying news stories through your blog on the platform, I recommend using these articles to inspire your own article written based on your personal opinion on these topics. 

In the second article on the page, the title reads "Matt Patricia won't let Detroit Lions media suck 'the life out of me.'" You could turn the bold statement by the Lions' coach into an article about how the media can impact the performance of a team or how one of a coach's biggest jobs is to handle relations with the media. 

#2. Freewriting 

Have you ever heard of freewriting? If not, don't worry, it's simple. All you need to do is to set a time for 10 or 15 minutes, and just write everything that comes to your mind. I use YouTube to set a 15-minute timer and use a Microsoft Word Document to type in. You can use a topic to guide your thinking (like football, your favorite team, sports controversies, etc.) or just use "sports" as your overall topic and write anything and everything you can think of. 

What comes out of this may look like a mess, but you will very likely have several great topics and a start to a strong article. It has yet to fail me. Try it and let me know how it goes. 

#3. Article Topic Exercise -- Get 100 Topics in 10 Minutes

Still need help? I'll let you in on my super secret method for coming up with article topics. I would definitely recommend listening to the podcast episode to hear Swolesome and I walk through this exercise, but here are the three steps need to come up with 100 topics in 10 minutes. 

  • Step 1: Write down 10 things that come to mind when you think of sports. Literally, choose the first ten things that come to mind. 
    • Example: 
      • Football
      • Basketball 
      • Hockey
      • Field Goals
      • Touchdowns
      • Criminals
      • Penalties
      • College Sports 
      • Michael Jordan
      • Sports Websites
  • Step 2: For each of your 10 topics, list the first 10 things that come to mind. 
    • Example: 
      • Football
        • Best Teams
        • Odd Rules
        • Worst Teams
        • Running Backs
        • Coaches
        • Injuries 
        • Helmet Technology
        • Player Accessories 
        • Fantasy Football
        • Fans 
  • Step 3: Pair the primary topics with the words that came to mind to create new topics. 
    • Example: 
      • Football
        • Best Teams
          • "The 10 Greatest Teams of All Time"
          • "Breaking Down the 4 Super Bowl 54 Contenders"
          • What Separates the Good Teams from the Great Teams in the NFL"
        • Odd Rules
          • "The 10 Weirdest Rules in NFL History"
          • "5 NFL Rules That Need to Be Changed"
        • Worst Teams
          • "Why the XYZ Will Not Be the Worst Team in the NFL in 2018"
          • "The 10 Worst NFL Teams Ever"
        • Running Backs
          • "Revisiting the Greatest Run in NFL History"
          • "X Reasons Barry Sanders Was Better Than Emmit Smith"

Going through this exercise can give you hundreds of article topics very quickly. If you need any help, again, please let me know. 

4. Swolesome: "Don't Force It" 

"If you're a natural fan of sports, just start reading," @Swolesome says. His most popular article to date was about the death of a Maryland football player, Jordan McNair. His article was inspired by this tragic story, and he added his personal thoughts on the matter in his post, which made it compelling for readers. Swolesome just read articles on sports with an open mind and this gem came out of that process. 

Swolesome also recommends watching games, even of sports you've never seen before. This year I decided to cheer for an English Premier League team (West Ham), which has inspired me to write several articles about them. You can find millions of sports clips and games online -- more than enough to help inspire you to write an article. I've even looked up sports movies on Netflix for inspiration. 

What are your tips for bloggers here on Scorum who are searching for article topics? Do you have any questions or need any help? Please comment below!