How do you get your inspiration

[Shunskitten]

hiya, i was wondering how do you get your inspiration for writing?

I get mine by simply writing. It's easy for me, even tho i do get blocks every now and then :/

[cowgirl65]

little snippets pop into my head at the oddest times (I once wrote an entire scene in my head during yoga meditation) but then I have to start writing or it just goes away

[Shunskitten]

^ same here sometimes, i'll get to daydreaming, and i end up typing it down just so i dont lose my ideas

[FairySlayer]

I get some fun ideas when I'm out walking places or sometimes even while trying to fall asleep. My mind won't let itself get bored so it does that. I keep a small notepad and pen with me at all times just in case, and if I had my own shower then it'd have a whiteboard and grease pencils. Though the best ideas come when I'm chatting with friends and joking around about stuff. My mind can run free but with someone to bounce ideas off and help me steer. I like that the best.

On very rare occasions I'll get some far-out, wacky idea that could never make a story itself, yet after reining it in a lot I'm left with the core of a decent story plus a better idea of the interconnections that will bring it together neatly. (Some people gasp in horror and rant when I tell them about that method, but like I said, the crazy stuff is mostly trimmed away. Heck, I can't even remember which two or three stories started out that way.)

All new ideas go into a big ol' file and sit for a while. If the idea doesn't look stupid after a month or so then I'll give the idea its own file. Few make it that far, and most of those never get beyond the note stage. Though if I run out of stuff to do then I have options.

Also, at the risk of horrifying demongoddess061, another thing that I've done recently is give up on drawing. I've drawn a "passable" comic and some pictures in the past, but it's always a struggle and leaves me with a lingering anxiety. (Lots of things do, and I've cut back on them as well.) An alternative thought is that whatever has reactivated my writing enthusiasm also made me realize what I'd rather be working on instead.

Or it could all simply be coincidence.

[The Dead One]

hiya, i was wondering how do you get your inspiration for writing?

I get mine by simply writing. It's easy for me, even tho i do get blocks every now and then :/

Lack of inspiration's happening a lot to me lately. So I do a range of things Writing memes, prompts, listen to music and toss idea's back and forth with a few other authors I know on Y!gallery. Or I go read a bit see if anything sparks my muses. mostly I just glare at the word-pad and hope something comes out. lol

[JayDee]

Sometimes I find the best inspiration is to do a request for somebody with the hope of direct feedback on something they like. I'm a sell out!

As for non-request/challenges... beats me.

[The Dead One]

Sometimes I find the best inspiration is to do a request for somebody with the hope of direct feedback on something they like. I'm a sell out!

As for non-request/challenges... beats me.

I do that to sometimes. Right now on Y, I got a few I'm doing. lol Though it only helps me sometimes. I usually get stuck half way through. I think I dried my smut muses. XD

[Guest Naga-Lord]

I always remember my dreams. I use a lot of ideas from them. Is that to steal from oneself?

I create my stories while lying in my bed, trying to fall to sleep. I've created every chapter I've writen like that. I create a storyline I like and then from the action from there. That way, when you start writing a story, you already have it finished in your mind. :3

[GinnyM.Potter]

If i listen to music (mj) his songs always start something in my head and i just have to get it down on paper. Many of his songs are like short storys. I just put my own spin on them... View my story Blood On The Dance floor and you will see that.

I love writing. Harry Potter really started it for me again. i loved how they were growing into teenagers and trying to figure out who they wanted to be with and if you didn't like that person make up your own story and put them with who you think they should be with.

[Shadowknight12]

Everywhere, really. Life inspires me. I overhear conversation, see someone unusual walking down the street, read a particularly well-constructed phrase, hear the wind blowing through the trees, or just catch myself daydreaming on the bus. That's actually a bad thing, to get inspired so often. Everything sounds cool at first, but then I lose interest and nothing ever gets finished. So what I do is let myself get a little inspired and then I put a hold on that until I can actually sit down to write. Then I let go. It's been working so far.

So yeah, I can basically see/hear/smell/touch/taste anything and think of a story. And sometimes, when there's absolutely nothing inspiring at all, I just retreat into daydreamville and make shit up on my own. It's a good way to avoid being bored, but it doesn't fucking help when you can't actually write the stuff you come up with.

[Asexual Biped]

So yeah, I can basically see/hear/smell/touch/taste anything and think of a story. And sometimes, when there's absolutely nothing inspiring at all, I just retreat into daydreamville and make shit up on my own. It's a good way to avoid being bored, but it doesn't fucking help when you can't actually write the stuff you come up with.

I agree with the "daydreamville" portion and not being able to write what you come up with. That happens to me all the time! D:

My inspiration shows up mostly in my own mind, but every once in a while I'll notice something or read about something and think "That might sound good in a story."

The problem usually is that my inspiration only gives me specific scenes and I can never think of ways to connect them. I'm not very good at the mundane details between scenes.

[BoredStraight]

I have to agree with everyone, Daydreams are my number one source of inspiration, but I have to outline the story as soon as I get an idea or I'll forget all the details that take you from the beginning to the end. Also watching movies or TV, listening to music (gotta have music to daydream), reading, and talking with friends.

[kagome26isawsome]

I read other stories that inspire me (sometimes i read the same thing over and over). Sometimes listening to music helps and playing wii helps too...lol

Edited March 3, 2011 by kagome2526

[Tenshinhan]

I get inspiration from a blank paper. A void to fill.

Then it gets hard...

[Need2ScreamNow]

I get inspiration from all over. Mostly though it's when I'm trying to fall asleep, it's like I half-dream plotlines or scenes and then I have to get it all out. Sometimes I use tried and true plotlines, (Boy likes boy, neither knows they have the same feelings for each other, self-discovery ensues) but going back to what's been written is a great springboard for my own madness.

[DrChristmas]

Inspiration from people.

I love writing stories FOR people.

It makes me happy to make them happy.

[LockedBox]

I get good ideas when I'm asleep, trying to go to sleep or simply wishing that I could be asleep, for some reason my imagination is the most alive when all my other sensory functions have shut down.

[moss gypsy]

I get inspiration from the strangest places. Well, okay, the places themselves aren't strange, just the circumstances, I guess.

For instance, I'll end up seeing a movie or tv show with a friend that I'd never normally watch, like, something I don't think I'd be interested in. And then a particular character, setting, situation, etc. will become a muse.

Music, of course, is a given.

In situations where I feel a lack of inspiration, I've found it quite helpful to just start reading other authors works. Many times, I've read someone else's fiction and thought to myself, "Yeah, that's an element I'd like to incorporate in my work, I just never really knew how to go about it." Or, "Hey, that's really cool. I'd like to include something like that in my work, but maybe take it a step further." Taking a break from your own writing and getting into someone else's can aid you in overcoming those nasty blocks.

Last, but not least, seventhsanctum.com can help you churn out some interesting ideas. I found that link in another post somewhere in the forum--I can't recall who posted it originally, but to that person I give thanks, shoutouts, and much love.

[Tigro Spottystripes]

Unfortunatly i got some sort of weird bug in my brain and almost never manage to get ideas to come out, often they just keep rolling inside my skull and eventually fade in the sands of time; but often what leads me to work (as much as you can call "work" just planning everything out without ever producing anything physicly) on story ideas is when an idea for a RP start getting too complex and plot driven to work as an RP and i "promote" the concept to a story, that and when repeating fantasies get structured and start sprouting histories and all sorts of non masturbation fodder details; a few times though it also happens the classic fanfic way, while watching/reading some original material or afterwards and realizing openings for adult situations, or simply feeling aroused by the looks of characters or the situations they are in etc.

[spiralbreeze]

I listen to music, and sometimes scenes just come to me, then I have to figure out how to put them on paper. Some times I've come up with something out of the blue. Like I wrote a song for my future children when I was 15 in the shower. I was washing my hair and starting singing and I had to get out and write it down. Now I sing that song to my son at night. Kinda weird. I wonder if I am capable of automatic writing, cause sometimes I just have no clue as to where it comes from and I don't remember writing it either.

[TentacleFan]

When actually writing, or sitting to try and write I play music. Sometimes just whatever I want to hear, sometimes music that fits the mood of what I'm trying to write.

When I am coming up with ideas I like to sit and just think, or daydream. I keep a small notebook and pen on me so I can jot down notes as ideas and pairings and other inspirations hit me. I also enjoy the challenge of doing requests or suggestions. I find have someone's idea can inspire me to take it and run with it.

[Hairyhaggis]

vivid dreams are always a source to fall back on. A smell that connects to a place or time will throw up scenarios that can be worked on or simply daydreaming. My story Into The Dark started off as a daydream (hate waiting on public transport) I enjoyed it so much that I ended up tweaking it to fit with the fanfiction criteria. I guess having a very vivid imagination has always been a source of inspiration for me, that and a good long term memory One of my favourite things to do is to pretend I am in someone else's head as I'm walking through town. Also, taking random words and creating a story around them helps to get your creative juices going

[ladytsunadesama]

Music and my ecclectic taste for nearly all genres leads me to story lines that are sometimes questionable.

[Ajwf]

Random word generators. Hate to throw a wrench in everyone's ideas... But that's where my random ideas come from.

[Rothelena]

I dream a lot (daydreams AND nightly dreams) and often get inspiration from those fantasies.

I always lose my footing when I start writing for my readers instead of just for me, the spark simply leaves me when I worry too much about how my story will be received- so most important for me is: if I sit down, I always tell myself that I won't publish this one, that I just write it for myself... that always works best.

Also very inspiring: pictures. Whenever I don't know what to write, I experiment with Gimp, do some filthy collages or simply look at screencaps.