This is not quite what you're asking, but the most inspirational thing I read this year was Stephen King's 'On Writing'. It is very short and I'd highly recommend it for any writer working on any novel or short story. 75% of my stories are based on dreams I have had. So, my second piece of advice would be to record any dreams you remember as soon as you wake up. You'll make some surprising connections!
Hello Hellwarrior. When I start a new story project, I usually go with something like this: - Genre of the story Something solid to stick too, to keep the story goals consistent. - Age audience Something else to keep the story focus consistent. - Any matching sub-genres (If applicable) Just in case. - Story Theme (Like, 'magical talisman of Jedi-Powers' or 'horrible curse of Disney pirate zombies') A consistent theme through out the story that matches the genre. - Characters A rough idea of most of the necessary characters. Helps later down the road, if the project ends up getting scrapped but I can still re-purpose any exciting characters in a different project. - Story Sketch/Chapter Outline I don't do this all the time, but some authors write out a brief sketch of the story sections or outlines the chapters. ----- These are just ideas, and you'll have to experiment for yourself to find what suits you and your writing best. Good luck, and I hope you have fun.
I agree with everyone else; stories are the best inspiration for new stories My novel I'm currently writing came from the name of a character in another story. The character name I pulled from was Fothcrah, a proamate (turtle-alligator) high priest in the stories Amnaeon wrote. Amnaeon is a one-man band on Youtube and Bandcamp. Listen to his stuff and read the summary for his stuff if you have the time. The name I made in my head from Fothcrah was Far'krar. That was the spark for said novel (named "Far'krar", it's a WIP). Inspiration from other stories can come from all sorts of things. Then again, I have a hyperactive imagination, so I don't need a lot to spark a story anyway. Reading a lot of stories will certainly help, I learned a lot about writing from it. Read a lot and it will help you with your writing. Look at authors you like and figure out what they do that you like, pick them apart.
My story (which I'm writing as a novel but have no intentions to publish) I've taken inspiration from what's around me. I know that sounds vague, but let me explain. As it is a science fiction , I've found myself looking deeper into science fiction stories that I like such as Doctor Who, Star Trek, Mass Effect (minus that ending), Star Wars (only the good ones) and the first two Alien films. Not to the extent of taking inspiration for story, characters, creatures (minus one race of giant spiders inspired by the xenomoprphs) but atmosphere and locations, something I get stuck on when writing a science fiction or fantasy story (which considering that they're the two things I write the most is a bit of a problem) One part of the story is set on a large "sleeper ship" carrying the last of humanity from a ravaged Earth to an Earth-like planet outside of our solar system. The interior of the ship takes a little bit inspiration from the ship in alien, mainly the design of the pods and the dark corridors (only the corridors on the sleeper ship are crammed full of pods) Music is my biggest inspiration, I feel that I can't write without some kind of music playing. If you want I can make you a list of what I use.
My inspiration comes from being out of doors, anywhere else but at home. I get most inspiration from being in a forest or sitting my a body of water.
All you need is one word. What I do is just go to some random word generator online and switch through a bunch of nouns until I find a word that interests me. Then I will pick an adjective to go along with the noun to add on a little bit more. Had a project in school where I had to create a book to read to my reading buddy. Switching through the words I found "Overcoat" then added on "Lucky" to create a story about a Lucky Overcoat that caused lucky events to happen to the user. The user get's into a fight with his friends over who should get to use it. One friends runs off with it, and then falls into a river. Friends save him and the story concludes. Simple plot but my audience was a 4 year-old so the plot didn't have to be something up to the same level as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code". Anyways hope my advice helps ._.
I just sit and listen to my friends, family or fellows. Very often they give me great ideas for my writing
Woolgathering is not to be underestimated. Random thoughts and ponderings should not be dismissed. They should be fed. You never know where they will take you. Thinking about the fact that in Brazil cars burn ethanol gave birth to one of my two major WIPs. Also, never, ever let an idea's improbability in the real world stop you. China Miéville's The City and the City has a very improbable premiss but that doesn't matter in the least. The improbability of the premiss, the crack in the foundation, becomes the meat of the story, and it's a delicious story. Also, the real world is a hell of a lot less perfect than you might think, which makes less probable stories actually more probable. Months ago, in a different forum, a member was brainstorming and exploring the idea of a story that rotated around a legal system where all punishment was based on the "an eye for an eye" rule. Members were quick to point out logical flaws in this legal system and dismiss the story idea as a dead end. I was 1) shocked that a member's idea would be dismissed so out of hand, and 2) saddened at the idea these members had obviously fallen prey to the propaganda being fed to them by whatever real countries they live in, telling them that their actual real-world legal systems were perfect and without flaw. The legal system the member was proposing was obviously flawed. All legal systems are flawed. In her case, the meat of the story was so obviously going to give up its juiciest cut from within the flaws.
Just finished The Catcher in the Rye. Last couple of paras Holden Caulfield has just gone to his sister's school to give her a note. Odd memories. I've now got a character leaning over a school gate reminiscing about his school days, at the same time expecting to be approached because you don't look over school gates looking at kids. Not in these PC days. Only paedos look at schoolkids. Random jottings.
Since everybody else has already covered most of what I would've said: 1) Think about stories where you loved the concepts in general but had strong problems with some of the specific details. 2) Think about stories where you loved some of the specific details but had strong problems with the concepts in general. 3) See if you like any combinations of "Concept(s) from List 1" + "Detail(s) from List 2"
It's... confusing... that you need to be inspired. In my opinion you should write because you're already inspired, not the other way around. I don't think that planning to write a novel and then trying to figure out what to write has any point to it other than the vanity of 'being a writer.' But then again, I have my own opinion of what writing is and should be as a creative outlet which differs to others. I mean, if you're not already inspired to write something why would you bother? I fail to understand, and would like to be enlightened, as to why people see writing a novel as a goal when they have no story yet to tell?
You Should take inspiration from your own life. Just think about your past and I am sure that you get any character of your life to resemble with your Novel.
I agree with you 100% wilson, the best experience for writing is personal experience, doesnt have to exzctly mirror you but along the same lines
Yes, Personal experience and experience of life is one of the biggest motivation for Article Writing. Some times nature will also hep you to get idea t write novel.
I'm most often inspired by my own random thoughts. In fact, my current WIP was inspired by a thought I had while at work: I was in the car with the family I was working with, on the way home from a two day vacation, and I was wearing a pair of calf-high snow boots. As I was sitting there, I suddenly wondered if my boots were tall enough to hide a knife, and this segued into wondering what would happen if someone hired a nanny with "special skills" to protect their kids. What kind of training would they need? What kind of family would hire such a person? What sort of challenges would this person face? I was also inspired by an audio commentary of the Disney/Pixar movie The Incredibles. The film was directed by Brad Bird, who also did the commentary, and he spoke at one point of his love of intermixing the mundane and the fantastic. He of course was talking about making a movie about a family with superpowers, but I latched onto that turn of phrase "the mundane and the fantastic", and now I strive to do the same in my stories. Being a nanny is a pretty mundane occupation (I should know, I am one), but it would be so easy to make it fantastic while still ensuring those moments of mundanity that make it believable.
The act of creating a novel is no easy going task. Because writing one novel ultimately involves writing so much more than that. You can be inspired by anything or anyone. You got to get a grasp about what you want to write about first, the more specific the better. Then keep your eyes peeled cause the rest could come any moment. Don’t stop thinking about it and surely you will find something to satisfy your creative mind. This can get tiring and boring but have patience and perseverance, you can do it! As an exercise you can try and form your inspiration out of something like a painting. I used the following painting once and it worked out really well. Good Luck
I started writing with much the same motivation as the OP. From this perspective, the inspiration to write is to develop a skill or gain the experience. My goal is to write one book, self publish a few copies, and give them to my kids as an example of what one can do. This started 6 years ago. I've written a few short stories, failed on two novel attempts but keep chugging along. It's analogous to a couch potato waking up one morning and deciding they want to run a marathon. I'm not running because I like running as much as I want to do something awesome. And writing a story is awesome. To the OP, you should start with short stories. You're a couch potato - run a mile first, than a 5k, then a 10k, and only then a marathon. I've tossed probably 100,000 words in my two failed novel attempts. Ten to twenty short stories would have yielded the same experience but with a boost of confidence along the way. You'll learn about plots, characters, conflict, paragraphs, sentences, adjectives, adverbs and inspiration. And its a lot easier to put aside a mediocre short story than it is to rewrite a mediocre chapter of your novel. Do a bunch of these, get critiques on this site, and then you might be ready to write your novel. And along the way, you might find your inspiration. Good luck.
Cool. I really liked the perspective you brought to it. As I said, I fail to understand but would like to, and this helps.
@hellwarrior - At first I had a chuckle at this thread, because it reminded me of what authors HATE to be asked at book signings and festivals, etc. "Where do you get your ideas?" They often come up with silly/sarcastic remarks as a response, and we, in the audience laugh along with them. But it is often a very sincere person who asks that question. And it's worth a more considered response, in my opinion. For myself, I find that constantly asking 'what if' questions as I write really helps. If you can imagine any starting scenario, then start applying the 'what if' mode to it. (If you want a horror story, start with a haunted house, or a group of people trapped in some remote place, etc—okay this is cliche, but it's not my genre!) I knew I wanted to write a story set in the old west (not guns-at-dawn mythical 'westerns', but a story about the 'real' old west of settlers in a new frontier.) I decided to pick a place to start—Montana Territory. In other words, I 'got' the setting first. Then I did some more reading about it, until I found a topic that really interested me. The Great Die-Up of 1886-87, which was a series of blizzards that nearly wiped out the free range cattle industry in that state. Then I said "what if" I could create characters who owned a ranch that survived the Die-Up? What would they have done differently from the others who lost their shirts? Some ranchers did survive and prosper, but they had to make big changes. What if I created ranchers with foresight, who changed beforehand? What kind of people would they be? Smart? Or just lucky? Or both? Well, once I created the setting and the ranch and ranchers, the story began to take shape. And, oddly enough, the finished result is actually much different from what I'd intended in the first place. In fact, my first novel ends the summer before the blizzard, and concerns other issues and characters entirely. But that's how I got started. Take a scenario (either 'real' or imaginary) and start 'what-iffing.' Do this in your head, not on paper/computer, until you've got a framework in mind. Then get started, and don't stop till you've finished a first draft. Don't obsess over each crafted sentence ...just get the story down there, and let it develop. You can 'craft' it later. Just get it told the best way you can. And have fun!
I found the inspiration for my first novel with the birth of my son All other tips and tricks didn't make me write even a single word
Thinking, imagining plots before falling asleep, also this is the major reason I sometimes get up at night, because there is something I have to write down. There usually is something, that pops into my head and demands developing. This is how people become writers, it´s the urge to write, not that you want to, I often do not want to write, but I feel nervous until I have put my thoughts away on a paper. Hemingway said smtg like write drunk, edit sober, so there is my inspiration to you.
