Evening all, Apologies if this is in the wrong section, I'm new here so unsure where to be putting new posts. Anyway, I digress! I'm just wondering, if you realise or decide at some point that you want to start writing something fresh and new, where do your ideas and plots generally come from? Do you want for them to come naturally, or are there things you'll do to help start the idea generation process, i.e. reading a new book/rereading an old book, watching a movie, listening to music? Do you have something you'll do to try and kick start the process, or do you generally get your ideas naturally from things people say, things you see, etc. Mark
Hello Millamber, The inspiration/idea for my current story came to me after listening to the first 55 seconds of Brian Reitzell's Tome-Wan. I developed a character and theme based off the music, and from there developed a plot.
Hey there! There's a really great article about that exact thing on this very forum, located right here: https://www.writingforums.org/articles/where-do-ideas-come-from-ill-tell-you/ It's not long and its a fantastic and insightful post.
My ideas usually build off of things I've watched or read, whether fiction or non (sometimes from music, though that happened more when I was younger for some reason). I used to think I just came up with them entirely on my own, but I outgrew that notion What I end up taking inspiration from is equal parts some tidbit grabbing me and me actively choosing to pursue it.
They come whenever, however. My WIP came from a picture of a boy I seen on the internet who was dressed up like an elf or something and I wondered why a kid would dress up for an elf - I'm not up on Cosplay -- thank goodness because the more I thought about the why's and reasons I came up with a story idea. Another idea came when I was watching an old cartoon, another from a childhood memory, several were triggered by the writing contests here - just phrases. I don't usually need to provoke an idea or go looking for one because a lot of times they annoyingly pop up when I'm writing something else. The best way to generate ideas is to deep think about something - and think what if? Broaden your horizons. If you're visual look at a lot of art, pictures, phrases. I love going to Pinterest and looking at Vintage images. The collages are sublime eyecandy.
This doesn't apply to all my ideas, but I get some weird ones when I'm playing online solitaire. I'm serious. It seems to put me in an altered state and the most intriguing names, titles, and plot ideas pop into my head. I Google them to make sure I'm not thinking of something I saw or heard of before, but no, they're always new. Trouble is, these ideas are never suitable for the genres I like to write.
That has happened to me recently, so I have been thinking of actually trying something new, just to see how it goes. I've only got one WIP going on atm so I'm thinking I could dedicate some time to something new. What is it you write, and what genre's are you getting ideas for? (If you don't wanna disclose, np!)
All germs of ideas I work with start out as me or some I know having a bit of a rant about something. Then I look for a 'mixer' idea, something related but unrelated that gives the idea an edge. Of all the stories about how ideas come to people, I like Richard Bach's best: I met Illusions the way I meet most of my ideas. It burst in through the living room window, threw me down on the couch, grabbed me by the collar and said, "Write me."
So far I'm writing romantic suspense and psychological horror, and I have ideas for something RL historical I'd like to try. I came up with a character name that'd be good for a men's adventure thriller (I think), and a title that'd work fine for a Medieval-type fantasy. Don't see branching out in those directions; at least, not now.
The Beatles apparently did some of their best work by combining styles that everybody was already familiar with, but that nobody had ever combined before. Make your ideas suitable for the genres you like
I'm really enjoying reading everyone's replies so far, and in-fact followed the idea of combining ideas or things I know last night, and then couldn't sleep because I came up with an idea for something that I really want to explore now and was playing different scenarios/characters/locations local to me over and over in my head last night! To say I'm tired today is an understatement!
I had a period last year where I came up with half-a-dozen story ideas, all of which sounded really great and I wrote them all down so I wouldn't forget them while I finished all those drafts of last year's WIP. Then, when I was ready to move on to the next story, I looked at them all and maybe it was the time that'd passed or the perspective of distance, but only one seemed worth bothering with by then some nine months or so later. Thank God I don't get ideas every day!
From imagination. Madness. Whatever I can twist into a story really. May not be all that good at it, but I tries really damn hard.
Half a dozen? Awesome. I'm crap at coming up with a lot of new ideas, but I hope that once i start my course and working on this idea I'm loving, then more will come along, ha! I can't imagine coming up with ideas and looking at them 9 months later
Fantasy images are great for inspiration. But I dunno, I have such trouble ever actually coming up with a story I'm good at coming up with a premise, an opening, even making a character, but then I get stuck. Sometimes discussing an idea helps, but I've found when I try to write other people's ideas, I also get stuck, because on some level I know that's not what I want to write... I'm currently in this phase of having nothing that excites me all story ideas sound old to me...
I like meditation. I enjoy turning all of my lights and sounds out, laying in either the bed or the bathtub and letting ideas flow. I usually start by clearing out my mind for a few minutes to start fresh.
