Where do you get ideas?

Have you seen Night On Earth drew? That could well be my all time favourite movie.

I got the best ideas I've ever gotton from talking to people online as a completely different person, and just letting her story build from there. It was terrific to get to play in her head, and speak in her voice, and get other's realistic reactions to what was happening to her. Another source for my ideas is the town where my grandparents live in Maine. I go there, and see one thing, and can base nearly a whole story around it. Its great. And there's always my goldfish whispering to me at night while I stare at my ceiling. Great fun...Unfortunatly, with all those great sources for ideas, i have yet to acctually FINISH a story...hmmm...

OF COURSE IT'S OK TO STEAL IDEAS!!! You could never ever write an original book. For example, J.K Rowling has pinched trillions of stuff from other books! Everyone does it. In fact, it's vital for an author to pinch ideas or it won't be interesting!

From discussion boards. The best ones are the lifestyle boards where people will talk about anything and everything! Reading other people's posts and threads pushes my mental buttons and it's only seconds before I'm have a reaction to something and bingo! I've got a great idea for a short non-fiction article. I'm often astounded at what other people get upset about, what interests people and why some people seem to spend the better part of their lives as their online alter egos. It's great stuff because I can get 3 or 4 good ideas without even leaving my loungeroom. Give it a try but beware, it's addictive and you could spend your time replying to posts rather than just harvesting ideas.

Perhaps the answer really is when it strikes you between the eyes, that's the one. My ideas are in the main based on things that happen to me or those I know. However, some come from dreams although I really have trouble remembering them well enough to write them down when I wake up! It is worth taking any incident that anyone tells you and try and make something more out of it. Fortunately you don't have to take any notice of what we say as the impotant thing is to do what works for you and there are probably as many answers as there are writers. Bloody awful English! Sorry. Try everything from reading cereal packets to talking to vicars. They can all be interesting. Well, maybe not. See ya, Graham

I get my ideas from my brain duh!!cazsteed wrote:

i posted this somewhere else on the site too.. i don't remember where Okay here goes. The inspiration and the ideas for the best writing that you'll ever do will come from moments in your day to day existence. Keep your story antennae on full alert all the time. Beneath the surface of your consciousness and the humdrum of your daily life, let the desire for the gist of a story remain lurking at all times. Ideas for stories can crop up anytime of the day, while travelling, conversing with someone or even the stories of the lives of your friends or people you meet narrated by them as means of gossip. The idea for a great story lies everywhere but it's just that your conscious mind does not notice it. But then suddenly all of a sudden, bam! Your mind is assaulted by the brilliant seed of an idea in the middle of a film, or while watching the antics of a man that you have observed in a public park. OKAY NOW HERE'S THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL IN IN THE ARSENAL OF A WRITER, WHICH CAN NEVER BE STRESSED ENOUGH! WRITE THAT DAMN THOUGHT DOWN IMMEDIATELY. If you don't, you will forget it and with that erasure, future generations will be deprived of a timeless story. Scrible that idea down on paper. No pen and paper no problemo, the cell phone will save the day. The thought that just struck you as a phenomenal idea for a story should be jotted down in as many characters as an sms message would allow. No more than that. What you're trying to do here is to store that feeling which just struck you as unique and put it in cold storage. Now type it on your cell phone and store it in the message archive. It's as easy as that. Keep building up on that ideas archive. A week, a month or even a year later when you actually sit down in front of your computer to start fleshing out your story, you'll be surprised at how easily the same feeling and emotions which that particular thought invoked within you even ten years back will arise again. When you read the gist of the idea which you had so thoughtfully stored will now seem like a ripe fruit ready to be plucked and savoured as the seed of an n exceptional tale . In fact there will come a time when inspiration would not be the main problem, but which idea among your storehouse of 200 odd ideas should you begin to work on ASAP would be the biggest hurdle to cross! Cheers jda ...and please don't lose the phone before you've had a chance to save those brilliant ideas onto a word processor!

hey i see words the jumble up and down in my head till i get an idea

Uh... I just start with a premise and a genre and write a chapter... if it sounds good i'll keep expanding. if it stinks I wont look at it again!

Like most of your correspondents, I get ideas from everywhere, dreams, what I read and watch on the box, newspapers, you name it, even postcards of an earlier era. I once wrote a children's story based on a dream for a competition. I did not win as such but given the opportunity to do a course on writing for children. I have had recurring dreams as well. The other night I had a dream of a mystical island on the east coast which I plan to use. The common problem I think with many is storing them for future use/posterity. Always have a notebook by your bed, even an old exercise book suffices to jot it down, ideas have a nasty habit of vanishing into the mental ether. There is another solution to that of course, create a diary of ideas, using a folder, a fairly substantial ring binder. I then found twelve dividers and then used clip and word art. I placed some paper between for transferring my notes. Another way is to look out for electronic filofaxes. I downloaded one from computeractive, organised it so for each month from Jan to Dec, I note what I think of or seen in the paper then at the end of the year, I transfer it to Word, enlarge the text, voila, I print it and have a source to refer to. It might not appeal to everyone but it could help. Watch people, a new hobby, even makeovers and think what if, you should have a plot in no time, observe behaviour of families. Grand Designs is a good one. How people interact if they forget they are being recorded, people are an amazing insight but that is your charactere ingredient. One thing, never be short again for ideas, do the same for articles, in fact I sent my dream details to a paranormal magazine so keep one for non fiction and anther for children The possibilities are endless, get into the habit of collecting interesting cards, birthday, postcards, provide triggers for describing your locations. I hope this has helped BFN Widget

I think of ideas by taking note of things I do. Walking to my best friend's house, going to school, and so on. If you like the paranormal type things, take a normal every day activity (i.e., making the bed) and turn it into a abnormal phenomena (i.e., you're making your bed and suddenly aliens attack.) and stuff. I like what Widget said, about taking Birthday Cards and Magazines and so on...that's a fabulous suggestion. :-D I hope I could help. -Brianna

Just whats on my mind like I have a friend who plays storys with her other friend and it's well intrsting(not in a good whay)but there ideas come from like a move they just whached or a play just seen h!ll most the time I have no idea they most likely pull it out of there butt but(how funny I said butt)I really should not be saying this but(there I go again but) it's Kool(O yes I hade to have that K)

From opinions...I think.

You just, sort of, think of something. You think: I could write about that; that's a good thing to write about. No wonder authors hate that question... Oh...and inspiration point.

I usually steal mine from other people........is that ok?

they're usually rattling around in my head somewhere... it's just a case of finding them before they get lost again.

I found several under a flower pot on my girlfriend's balcony.

Hey! Those were my ideas David! Oops.

David, if you see mine will you let me know? I think I left them in her kitchen by the microwave.

Most of mine follow me around, just out of vision. When I turn to look more closely, they bugger off, sharpish.

Mine wrestle me to the ground and don't let me out of my room til I've done something with them. Bastards.

My head is packed with them - all screaming to get out! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

My ideas...well I think of something that I would like to see in print (jumping the gun a bit there) or on that wonderful glowing screen that allows us to place all our thoughts and ideas down...mistakes and all and never asks for anything in return. An Idea comes then goes and resurfaces weeks later and finally I think yep that will do I must write that down, to which I never do and end up writting total drivel and crap. Also depends if I can be arsed to do anything. After all you can't rush talent...so somebody told me...about somebody elses work. Si.

Mine come to me when I am out. I work the idea into a story or poem as I wander home and then once there they disappear completely.

First thing in the morning when I wake up. It's either there or it isn't. Most of the time it isn't. I then have to rush and write down the basic theme and come back to it later. Sometimes it makes no sense at all when I look at it a few weeks later. Ho Hum.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Ideas come and go. I find it better to start writing something and if you run short of where to take it, put it down for a while before picking it back up and the ideas will flow again.

U can get them absolutely anywhere. It wouldnt b the 1st time Ive read a book or watched a movie and thought I could many do something of my own with 1 of the book/movie's concepts. I got my most recent idea from a book I bought called 'The book of Dragons and other mythical beasts.' Other ideas can just appear when u least expect them. Write them down and dont forgot that research can b important in order to transform ur idea into an enjoyable, believable and coherent story.

Have ideas when I'm walking then I write them on a bit of paper. Usually come back to them weeks later. Or like Tony in the morning. I can edit at night but not make stuff up. I like a director called Jim Jarmusch - I like his way of telling stories and I think looking at things his way has helped me. He thinks of a plot and then takes out all the action. Or what would typically be the action sequences. What's left is the characters. For example Down By Law is a film about a jail break but we never know how the characters go about organising this. One minute they are in prison the next they are running. It's more about their relationship. In general things about relationships are pretty dull but if you can throw in an action plot in the background then you've got the best of both worlds. In this way you can take any kind of plot - a really typical one - and then put the characters you want in it but try not to worry about the plot. And at the same time you seem original. Well, that's what I do.... might not work for anyone else.

Ideas - they come to me in my dreams. But I'll be damned if I can remember them when I awake. I'm trying to think right now.

One of my stories, "House Rules" came to me in a dream; that's very rare, but I awoke with a huge twinge of bittersweet nostalgia at trying to recreate a golden era which just won't work because people have since moved on and I knew I had to try and work it into a story. Often snippets of news items provoke a story. "The Traveller" arose from an article where a woman had accused someone of impersonating her husband and I wondered how it could happen. "School Days" was based on two women's experiences of boarding school which I read within a few weeks of each other and reflects a British passion for deliberately damaging our children. Most of us could surely write one or two stories based on childhood experiences! I've also got twenty or thirty pieces which are half-completed, not very good or suffering from a fatal flaw e.g. a story about a fox with cubs being hunted; then I realised that hunts take place in winter! My motto: If you want to write, you've got to read!