I’ve been putting suggestions in the Stazjia’s Stars forum for ideas to make into new lenses. My latest suggestions have been inspired by the weekly Senior Squids Challenge. Last week, the subject was ‘The Moon’ so I wrote about Moonflowers – Night Blooming Plants, this week it’s about ‘Time’ so I’ve done one on Local Time and Railway Time.

The point is to take an idea that is very wide ranging and think of your own slant on it. There is no way that anybody could write a comprehensive lens or web page about the moon or time. Both subjects are too big.

When you are stuck for something to write about, make a list of subjects. This is a brainstorming exercise so don’t think hard about it and agonise about what you add to the list. Just put down anything that pops into your head. When you have ten or twenty topics, look at the first five items on your list and, one at a time, work through them thinking of all the angles you could write about on each subject.

Example: The Sky

1. Airplanes
2. Clouds
3. Storms
4. Hurricanes or tornadoes
5. Birds
6. Myths about the sun and/or moon
7. The night sky and prominent constellations
8. Why the sky appears blue
9. Parachuting
10. Earth’s atmosphere

Here are ten different ideas for lenses or web pages from the general topic of ‘The Sky’.