Where do you get your ideas from?

[Solaris]

For most of my stories, they come from real topics and just plain thinking about what could be a good story idea and seeing if it would work.

So where do you get your ideas from? I would really love to hear it.

Beth

[PariahSolo]

Day dreaming, in the shower is good for that (I take lots of long hot showers). With my XSFGC fic in many ways I am revisiting my early teenage day dreams of being a mutant and going to Xavier's. (What? I was the only one who day dreamed they were a mutant?)

Two other factors come into play with my ideas:

First because of my own trait of munchinism but especially because of the more blatant munchinism displayed by others, I like to think any possiblef situation and make them more realistic, taking the munchinism out.

Second, I have fallen prey to the whole WTF/TINR (hope you know what WTF is, TINR is That is not right!) shocker style of expressism. (Again, seen hopefully painfully obviously in XSFGC)

Albert - PariahSolo - eastwoodaen

[Skullman]

My insparation comes from playing RolePlays,Reading the ideas of my fellow authors and sparking up a new idea,People on other sites that realy love certain stuff I like,and last but not least I get it from my keen intelect of the topic I have to right weather it's Adult or Children I'll get an idea.

-Skull J. Darkmaster

[Ginevra]

My ideas tend to come find me...Usually, it's a character that pops into my head and won't leave me alone until I at least write out some story notes.

Sometimes they come from reading something or watching T.V. or a movie. Sometimes it's a phrase somebody happens to say. Or a line that pops into my head. That's where "What Starfire said over breakfast one morning" came from.

Sometimes my readers offer me ideas...And those usually turn out better than what I had intended to do in the first place.

Mostly, I wind up daydreaming...In the shower, in bed, at work, in the car...where ever I happen to be.

Lately, I've even gotten ideas from songs, though I don't usually go for song fics.

Right now, I'm besieged with plot bunnies. The problem is finding one that can hold my attention long enough to make some significant progress while the others clamor for my attention.

Who knew bunnies could be so aggressive?

[Shirotaka]

I feel I may have no right to post here as I have yet to post a chapter to any of the stories I am working on, but my ideas come from real life situations, either those I see or hear about. From there it is simply a matter of changing the characters and the setting.

Keep an eye out for me in the Naruto fandom.

My story(ies) will be there someday lol.

Little known fact about the average .. They have motivational problems. ^^

...

[Iggy_lovechild]

Usually my ideas come from watching the anime/movie/series/playing the game and asking questions and thinking of senarios. Sometimes it's from other fanfictions, but that's usually in a more negetive aspect that kind of embarasses me. No, it's nothing bad like plagerism. It's like...I'll end up reading a bunch of badfics for a certain couple (usually a pairing I was going to write about anyway), get exhasperated, and take it upon myself to become a provider of good stories for a certain fandom/pairing. I swear that's part of the reason I ran so long with SO:3. There's so little good in that fandom that it still kinda breaks my heart. Sadly, my Albel muse has been MIA since Reno kicked down the back door of my brain and settled in.

[Solaris]

Sadly, my Albel muse has been MIA since Reno kicked down the back door of my brain and settled in.

Oh God! That happens to me with most of my stories, my muse will walk in and demand this story to be done and then another muse will walk in and sit his ass down right on my other muse or chase him or her off so his story can be written.

I have many stories that are seemingly abandoned but they aren't the muse just left my mind for that story and one day the muse will return and the story will be worked on again.

Beth

[NinjaGaijin]

Think we should open a plot bunny farm here?

Seriously. Maybe open a thread called 'Throw in your ideas' or something, just a large collection of random thoughts, character designs, dialogues, worlds, plots, twists, inspirational pictures/scenes, experience, anything?

[Ginevra]

Interesting idea...Couldn't hurt.

[NinjaGaijin]

I see that the literary lagomorph farm had been opened. Let's see what would come out of there.

[Guest Knorg]

I don't anymore.

*sigh*

[Keith Inc.]

I like lists. i live for lists. I like to get an idea and go over many long lists of short sentences or idea descriptions. Sometimes i just come up with another list (How to tell that the mad scientist may be a redneck), or plot bunnies (Episodes we could count on if a Lilliputian joined the crew of the USS Enterprise), or full story ideas.

Lists Rule.

Here's a list of my lists.

Hatch's plot bank. I've lost hours just sorting through what's available with a certain character, scenario or scene in mind, and more than a dozen stories have come out.

http://www.angelfire.com/nc/tcrpress/plotbank.html

213 things Private Skippy can no longer do in the US Army

I did 20 in the Navy, myself, but still get accused about three times a year as being the author of this list.

http://skippyslist.com/?page_id=3

Famous Last Words

Some of the scenes that come to mind in the moment after reading last transmissions can be quite the story. Such as "IT'S IN THE AIR VENTS!!"

http://www.hexfiles.multiservers.com/inflict/shuttles.htm

And, of course, how to drive (a wargamer) insane:

http://elephanticity.250x.com/oldhex/magekn/insane.htm

All of these seem to either inspire my muse or to force my muse to do some work before i waste the day jimmying up another list, like 'Things Chief Skippy Can No Longer Do On The Enterprise.'

[Solaris]

I use lists to keep the story titles and summaries straight as I write so many stories in a month that if I didn't write the titles down, I wouldn't know what I was going to do next as in stories.

I think lists are a good way to keep track of future stories.

Beth

[Guest orleans]

It really differs where I get my ideas from. Sometimes I'm about to fall asleep, and sudenly there's a picture or the beginning of a conversation in my head. Things develop from that point.

Daydreaming during boring working hours is another source for me

I have had ideas while showering, listening to music, perhaps hearing a "Real Life" discussion.

I keep thinking then how this or that character would handle the situation and the story appears.

[DarkCabaret]

I am inspired by everyday life, and ways I want to change it. I also listen to lots of music and sometimes the lyrics strike something in my head and make me write. Like for my newest fic, I'm listening to that band (oops it's not as top secret, people know it's about a band! ) all the time!

[Theankh]

I get my ideas normally whilst reading the original book. For fanfic anyway. I like erotica, and I like certain characters, so the two come together and bam, an adult fanfic is born

[gaaraxoxolee]

My ideas come from many sources. Most of it comes from real life, be it my experiences or experiences of friends, family, enemies, ect. But reading a good book or watching a good anime helps too.

My mind tends to wander on its own so sometimes I get an awesome daydream, and purposely stay in daydream mode in hopes that it developes into something great.

Or I'll have an really cool nightmare and I immediately writie it down. Nightmares are the best cause they seem to actually have plot developement. Well for me at least.

I've written countless poems and at least 25 percent are from dreams or daydreams I've had. The few stories I've written (non-fanfiction) came from life experience. Not all of it was my own, but things I've noticed.

Books and anime help me with "What if" scenarios of course!

[Toushikku]

This may sound cliche but I get my ideas from the music I listen to. Or the requests I get.

[Guest Rosemarius]

This may sound cliche but I get my ideas from the music I listen to. Or the requests I get.

So do I (at least, for the music part). Or I just leave an idea stuck in my mind until it "explodes" and I really have to write it (note: this usually happens when I'm outside or in the bathroom or anyway in a place where I can't write...dunno why...)

[NinjaGaijin]

This may sound cliche but I get my ideas from the music I listen to. Or the requests I get.

Yea, sometimes requests can be a source of inspiration. Plus a requested story means that at least one person will read and respond to you.

I'm doing a request now. The requester supplied 60% of the plot so I'll just have to expand on that.

[shinigamiinochi]

A ton of places, really. Well, I needed a good nightmare scene for Solstice, my novel, but nothing was coming to me. I needed something creepy and original, but also something that my MC would definitely dream about. My college library has a window that looks like something bled out on it and if you sit under it, you get bathed in this bloody light. It's really creepy and neat. Some art major did it years ago as a joke. Anyway, I sat under that window thinking, I'll just write a scene that describes blood. Instead, I wrote this disturbing dream sequence that spans four pages. I just couldn't stop getting ideas when I was under that window! I get ideas from my cousin. It was his idea to do Gundam Wing Hentai. I get ideas from movies. I don't mean like direct movie to fandom type stuff as I don't like seeing it. I was watching Underworld and came up with the idea of Ethereal which is just a fic on a vampire falling in love with a werewolf. Books and manga are a great source. Violence+Sex=Love came from Scar Tissue where the MC gets raped by the boy he loves and he wonders if it is rape if you love the person. Dearly Departed came from a mix of Petshop of Horrors and Chobits. Music Box Trilogy was inspired by the Transiberian Orchestra. I also get ideas when I'm pissed off about something. For example, Gundam Wing Fairytales. I was in my music class and we had to go to see a Disney Beauty and the Beast musical. I was so angry leaving that thing that I went home and decided to write an anthology of Gundam Wing stories showing how the fairy tales were really written before Disney butchered them.

[SasUke PepSi aDvErTiZeMeNt]

A whole bunch of things can trigger ideas for me!

For example, I could be taking the train home and see a couple being all mush and stuff but then I decide to think about how their relationship might be. Then try to fuse it with the fandom I usually write in *coughnarutocough* and then try to compare what I'm seeing to the actions the character might do!

Another thing can be about a personal life story. A time in my life where there is like a tragedy or something! I would write about it.

I usually connect with things that I see to whatever I decide to write. A whole lot of things inspire me, but I'm really lazy right now just to start typing them out!XD(its a long list!)

[PariahSolo]

Since my last response when this thread was first started, I have started work on four original pieces that are not fanfic related and one thing that I have noticed is that I am writing with a chip on my shoulder. After completing two of the pieces and examing the other two, I have notice that I have put a lot of personal info in the stories and I have done so out of apparently anger. Full of piss and vinegar is appears I am.

[haruha_raharu]

I get a lot of my ideas from H doujin that I read. All my stories are porn first, plot later, so it works out (although not all of them are PWP, the plot act mainly as vectors for the porn in the ones that have plot). I look at what I find particularly hot or arousing, and see if I can merge and incorporate them into the scenes I write.

[Becca Star]

Most all my ideas come from music... I don't write songfics... it's more like the music takes me to another world and I see the characters interact... And so... I begin to write...

I also get ideas from my editor... For instance he said to me "What ever happens to so-n-so?" ... So I thought a moment and BAM! another story was born...

OH... from personal life too... It's not that I'll write stories about myself with other characters, it's more like I understand better what a character is going through and can write them more three dimensional... Do you get what I mean?

Another way ideas are born in my head would have to be pure hentai thoughts... I've never written a PWP or one with plot yet, but there are LOTS os devious ideas swimming in my head... Hehehe...

Much Love,

Becca