Even if you love writing, there’s always room for a little more excitement. Here are some unexpected ways to add fun, inspiration, and productivity to your routine:

1. AI (but not how you think)

AI gets a lot of flack in the fear that it will eliminate the act of writing a novel, but there are many ways it can enhance the experience instead.

My favorite is to use an image generator like Midjourney to capture details in my settings that I might have missed on my own. If you write fantasy or science fiction, it can be a lot easier to nail down individual details of an imaginary setting if you can whip up colorful visuals.

Other authors use AI for details like minor character backstories or background events—things that you might not have even bothered to plan out when prepping for a book.

2. A Dice Kit

One of my favorite NaNoWriMo pastimes is the dice crawl—a roleplaying adventure where your dice rolls determine both your character fates and how many words you need to write to get there. But dice have other uses as well.

Whether it comes to adding spontaneity to writing sprints or deciding on a detail that’s giving you trouble, a set of dice nearby can effectively spice things up whenever your writing gets in a rut.

3. Background Sounds

I’m not talking about music (though that can be great, too). Re-creating the sounds of your book can pull you deeper into the world you’re writing about, whether it’s a cozy romance or a dystopian thriller.

Common sounds might be nature-based or environmental (think of a coffee shop generator), and you might prefer either a common sound throughout your draft or sounds that rotate based on the scene you’re writing. My tool of choice is MyNoise, where I currently have a tab open playing the sound of rain on a tent, but there are many other noises available online for any mood or occasion.

4. Tasty Treats

Snacking while writing is not something I’d generally recommend. After all, it’s hard to type with sticky fingers, and the distraction and extra calories are not worth keeping a bowl of candy on the side of your desk.

However, small rewards can go a long way. If you struggle with motivation or want something to make your achievements feel extra special, consider adding a sweet snack in for those times when you want to give yourself a high five.

5. Listen to It

Text-to-voice software is still a long way from being able to record a quality audiobook (or voiceover for a Youtube ad), but listening to someone else’s voice reading your writing can bring in some unexpected excitement. Try a different accent, and swap from male to female to get a feel for how your book sounds to different readers. My recommended resources for this are Natural Readers and Autocrit, but there are many alternatives out there.

If this article helped you, please donate a coffee at the button below so I can find more tricks to give writers the extra push they need.