Reading stories forms visuals in your mind. Now reverse this process. Observe visuals deeply and regularly.

Do this for a few years & one fine day… "Voila.! You're a better writer.”

There certainly are tried and tested tactics that one can employ to be better at the craft of writing, the tactics include swimming in the pool of visual art (cinema, music videos, paintings, photographs) and observing them.

Every character in a movie is indirectly a person whose life story you watch; the point being, the more movies you watch, the wider your perspective is towards life. AND, the better you can write.

Music videos serve a quintessential source of inspiration for ideas on short stories. Each of them is a Short Art Film in itself, so why not observe each detail, character, cinematic device & timeline from them ?

“Never forget you” by Zara Larsson is a story of a girl and a mythical beast and how they grow up together, fall in love, celebrate and then die together.

“We’re Good” by Dua Lipa is a song from the perspective of 3 crabs, and how the entire cruise ship sinks once the chefs start killing those crabs for food in the kitchen.

“Dusk till Dawn” by Zayn Malik and Sia is rather a short-film on how a couple execute a robbery with finesse and escape the police.

“You” by Troye Sivan is the story of a psychic hacker in love and how she goes through the entire computer of her lover.

“Heaven” by Justin Bieber is a love story on how a guy risks his life and robs a bank to arrange money for his dying beloved.

Some visually bizarre music videos or what I like to call Visual Poems can effortlessly give you ideas for many “poetic devices.” They have symbolic characters, elements, transitions and many unusual, extraterrestrial yet aesthetically pleasing references. You can get a booming influx of metaphors, similes, imagery and personification for your poetry. 

“Bloom” by Trote Sivan is a montage of flowers; tiny, huge, all shown in different hues and intensities.

“Da Una Vez” by Salena Gomez has glowing glass objects, reflections and refractions.

“Call me by your Name” by Lil Naz X is full of symbolic characters, extravagant make-up, torsos, colored wigs and tinted eyeballs. It also presents differently organised trees and skies.

“Hymn for the Weekend” by Beyonce & Coldplay is a representation of mandalas, flowers, henna pattern, fusion of Indian and overly western dress-up. The singer in front of the background of a neon-colored Indian temple, a muse walking up an ancient temple in her antique, oxidised jewellery. 

“Up & Up” by Coldplay vividly presents blends of situations. Flying fishes, football match on a dish-scrubber, balcony on the outer space. etc.

“All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar has off-normal visuals of a boat floating on a swarm of people, larger than life dictators, golden mazes of egyptian symbols, galaxies emanating from the head. 

“Cardigan” by Taylor Swift presents waterfalls emanating from pianos, strings with glitters, transporting and time-travelling from within the piano.

“911” by Lady Gaga is a dream sequence with symbolic elements and colours, just like our dreams.

“Takeaway” by Chainsmokers has endless tunnels and grunge to present the anxiety of the unknown.

“God is a Woman” by Ariana Grande presents smoothly swooshing galaxies, re-representation of renaissance paintings.

The list still has room for more such examples. 

First Person Narratives from movies will enable you to write good ones yourself.

Interestingly, the first person narrative from the movie “If I Stay” (2014) enabled, inspired and rather urged me to write the following poem,

“Father of the Bride '' film series is entirely a first-person narrative.

From Bollywood, “Barfi” is a significant recent example of a second-person narrative.

Movies can help you write complex relationships and dialogues between characters. For example,  

‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,’ and its recent remake, ‘The Hustle’ are both particularly noteworthy for their long dialogues very heavy on nouns, pun, sarcasm, and adjectives.