Thread: Where do you get your ideas.

Where do you get your ideas for your stories, characters settings etc? I'm brainstorming and wondering what process other people use.

Usually, I just want to tell something, an emotion, or an ideal, and I start from that. After that I imagine a really cool scene near the climax, and some awesome kick-start beginning, some mind-blowing plot twists, and some quirky main character. After that it's just filling the blanks. I have a beginning and an end, and the path I want to take, it all solves itself with time.

I do have a hard time with juggling multiple plot-lines and tying them together, but that's probably because I'm still inexperienced. I recommend not going too crazy with your plot if you are a beginner; things can really get out of hand if you're not careful.

I must admit, living out here miles from anywhere, it has been difficult.

Then this pair of really strange people came to town and opened a little shop. He’s short and round and shiny, and she’s long and angular and most days views the world with a brooding expression. But never mind about that. It’s what they sell, or more correctly, what she sells, that gets me in. They’ve divided the shop in two; he has his stuff in one half, and she has hers in the other. He manufactures vile-smelling pills and potions that assist the health of farm animals. She is a purveyor of spells and incantations both off the hook and to order, but additionally and in my case more importantly she has a large, well-staved wooden barrel, in a dark corner, that generally is filled almost to the top with Ideas.

And that’s where you’ll find me the third week in every month. Down at the Ideas Shop. I make it the third week as that’s when she does up a Specials pack. Three for the price of two. Sometimes, if short and round and shiny isn't looking, she'll slip in one or two small extras, and I'll be set for the month.

Hahaha. You're the worst, Ox.

I get mine from people. Now I feel like writing about a sad, sarcastic old man.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

And that’s where you’ll find me the third week in every month. Down at the Ideas Shop. I make it the third week as that’s when she does up a Specials pack. Three for the price of two. Sometimes, if short and round and shiny isn't looking, she'll slip in one or two small extras, and I'll be set for the month.

I hope she gives you refunds.

The voices tell me! Naw, I actually get images in my head or I have dreams where I'll wake up and think: "That would make a great story!"

^ I have quote a similar thought process. I'd have something happen to me during the day and then realize, "That could work as a story."

My ideas come from real life a lot of times. My grand daughter Spohia had bowed legs when she was young but they straightened out. i made a character named Sophia who had badly bowed legs that would be deformed if not corrected by surgery within a year. The main character pays for this.

Just yesterday, I read about the Mexican drug cartels hijacking tourist busses and forcing them to fight gladiator style with machetes, this is really happening. That to will go into one of my stories. A stray dog we took in, people that I know, etc.

I can't brainstorm. It's like trying to force my imagination to come up with something. I get my story ideas when they decide to show up.

My first novel idea popped into my mind when I was driving on a quiet highway at night through a forest.
I had another story idea stick with my when I woke from a dream.
Another story came to me when I saw a young, attractive homeless man eating left overs from plates left at a small restaurant in Southern California.

Pretty much ... they just happen.

This is going to sound glib, but...everywhere! Every tiny thing filters through my brain and along the way the magic happens, and BOOM!

So. Life. That's where my ideas come from.

I've seen this asked many times, and the answer usually is, they just pop into my head or some over-blown variation of that. Most of my ideas come from life too -- but what makes that thing a good story idea as compared to all the other gazillion things that happen to me? I have no idea. Besides, I could tell you something that I think is some sure-fire way to come up with ideas -- but how would y'all know if they're any good if you haven't read anything of mine? They could be crap ideas.

yeah, you might as well ask where you get your desire to write from

Originally Posted by Nicky

yeah, you might as well ask where you get your desire to write from

Okay, now that is a question I can become seriously interested in. I've heard people say they can't not write, but me, I can take it or leave it. So where does desire come from?

I've been puzzling over this since the mid-80s. If anyone can show me where to find it, I shall be eternally grateful.

You have at least enough desire that you're still writing and still asking the question after 30 years. How much do you need?

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Okay, now that is a question I can become seriously interested in. I've heard people say they can't not write, but me, I can take it or leave it. So where does desire come from?

I've been puzzling over this since the mid-80s. If anyone can show me where to find it, I shall be eternally grateful.

well i was more or less implying that you can't write without first having an idea...it was supposed to some sort of horse before the carriage metphor but it went terribly, terribly wrong.