Um. Perhaps 'pro writers did come up with an absolute crapload of interesting ideas' would be better writing than 'dearth', which means scarcity and famine?
I get that it sounds clever but that's the damn problem!
Sorry, not a native speaker, so I guess I had that word misfiled, thanks for correcting me. It does sting a bit but that's a hell of a lot better than going through life mixing up words.