Every time you start a wip, or even if you’re halfway through one, keep a notebook or a doc where you write all of your ideas. And I mean all.
Whether it’s a writing prompt that you want to use, character ideas, dialogue prompts, moodboards that remind you of your wip, songs that remind you of your wip, a doodle you draw of a character idea, or a random plot twist that you think of while you are in the grocery store.
I cannot stress this enough. Keep a record of everything related to your wip and note every thought you have down in that notebook. Take it everywhere with you.
Notice the way a stranger talks and the way their lips move, see how it reminds you of your oc and jot it down.
See that flower? That looks like something that could exist in your fantasy world. Sketch it or photograph it, then print it and stick it in the journal.
Watch the way that the old man at the corner gets crinkles around his eyes when he smiles, and remember that you want your ocs to do the same. Write that down.
Hear a snippet of a conversation that could be a prompt for a scene you were stuck on? Scribble it on the corner of one of your pages.
Take pictures of places that remind of places in your story, and try to think of what colours in the world around you would exist in your fictional world.
See the half-finished cup of coffee on the table next to you - that half-finished cup of coffee could have a story. Maybe someone was kidnapped while drinking it, or maybe they had to go somewhere in a hurry - maybe they didn’t like the drink and left it. What could happen because of that? Does something similar happen in your story?
Notice things Observe them. And keep a journal full of observances from your daily life and how they remind you of your wip. Go back to it whenever you get writer’s block, and go back to it when you’re unmotivated to write. Remind yourself why you love your story and your characters and make them more real by connecting them to your life. Keep track of every idea you have so that when you sit at your keyboard, you’re never once lost.
Trust me. Have a notebook dedicated to writing. It will help you endlessly.