How do you get ideas?

[I_am_Yours]

I get inspiration from roleplaying, from difficulties, from joy, from pain, and from books.

 

[Steadfast7]

I go out and sit somewhere peaceful, and think. Something always seems to pop in my head that way.

 

[Ellesar]

I got the idea for my Star Wars story while sitting in my Honors English one day...for my dragon story...just popped into my head one day...

 

[Kaylee4Christ]

I get inspiration from my friends, and people around me, and life experiences. Someone may say something perfectly ordinary and I'll get an inspiration that has nothing to do with it. Or sometimes my stories include the person's quote. Sometimes it'll be from the news, TV shows or movies I see, my pets, nature and everything around me. I get so many inspirations that I've learned to carry a little notebook in my purse to write them all down so I don't forget.

You should read my story in Creative Writing. My inspiration for that was looking out the window in fifth grade one day and seeing my dog Maisy laying in the sun with all for legs sticking straight up, her tongue hanging out, and her long fluffy tail wagging.

Kaylee

 

[ConstanceB]

It was a dark and story night.

People I've known, events I've experienced or witnessed -- those are the main ways I get inspired. Sometimes I'll "Play" with a piece I've read and particularly admired -- take a historical piece and turn it into a modernist story; or condense a narrative into a haiku.

Tear some pictures out of old magazines and later, pull one from your files -- without the caption. Make something up!

How about this: Take a narrative you like and tell the story from another's point of view, e.g. take a scene from a book like Where the Red Fern Grows (told from the adult's memories) and present it as if from the point of view of the old tree? One of the town-kids? Wow, what a different perspective they would have!

I also like to play "What If?" What if..... the Union Bank building in L.A. collapsed like the Towers in N.Y.? Who of importance could have been in th building? What if my dog could talk? How might that change my life.

You don't have to start out knowing what you'll "do" with these vignettes. The process is fun & important enough to go through it!

 

[antiarte]

I have a new way of getting ideas: I cut myself and watch the blood, it drips; and the adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me. I then grab a paper and a pen and rock myself to sleep; the little children weep, you are the sweetest thing for me. I wake up smiling, tired; and the ideas pour out of my fingers like a bloated scab. Is it my veins are carrying vomit and not blood?

Man, I always sucked at poetry.

 

[FireKame]

dreams is definately a big one, I think that's true for most sci-fi and fantasy writers. Some strange things can happen in dreams.

I also ask "What if?" A lot. Sometimes I pull more than one idea together to come up with a new idea.

 

[Lyle]

Everything has a meaning, everything has a message. The best way to get ideas is to observe real life. When you're outside, discribe that it's like; what the sun is like, the grass, the trees, the wind, ect.. Just try and discribe everything in your own mind until you do it well enough that it flows out onto the paper.

 

[peanutbutter12]

I'm naturally insane. The books I'm working on (which are on pause at the moment) come from the little world I've built in my head. My escape from reality.

CJ

 

[God.is.my.force]

Good question. Not sure.

 

[VioletAngel]

I have written stories from my dreams...and I have had some very wild dreams, and must have a vivid imagination that comes to the surface when sleeping. Sometimes, the dreams seem so real that I just have to write them down.

 

[preacherindisguise]

My own life struggles. I write about me and about what jesus did on the cross for me metaphorically.

 

[Jonteel]

put in one of my stories. For a story to be good, I believe the characters are all important.

 

[Jonteel]

mistake

 

[Jonteel]

When I'm looking for an answer to where the story should go, I believe God provides the direction. It's neat.

When working on my Tolkien thing, I had problems with where I felt it shoud go. I chilled and let God point out the answer.

 

[Grl4Christ987]

I think, A LOT. And I get most of my ideas from my Bible reading.

 

[silentpoet]

God directed inspiration. Sometimes I get an idea and cannot rest until it is put down on paper. Other times I start with an idea, and work on it either logically or imaginatively. I might be driving and see a piece of land and try to figure out what could happen here. How would the battle flow, what would people do, where would they run, would that creek bed be effective cover for a sneak. I ask myself a lot of questions.

 

[ZACTAK]

I relate a lot of my stories to something that has happened in my life, and expand on it...a lot hehe. Or I do something that I passionately enjoy and think of a good plot for it. Those are for most of my short stories

When I usually write small things like a page or two long it is to inspire others... about life.

 

[Snowy]

it just comes to me at certain times

 

[JesseRaymondBassett]

I get my ideas from books, movies, and the internet.