Where do you get your inspiration?

Annabelle · May 9, 2010

Ok, so that title was very talk-show-host, but for real: what inspires you?

When I was younger, I wrote a lot of what I'd call "interstitial fiction", which I always thought was brilliant because it was so dark and so surreal. I'm sure it was actually really trite, but I was 15. So whatever.

After years of writing personal essays, satire/social commentary, and college papers, I want to get back to writing weird. I just don't know where to start! I thought I was fairly original, until I read that "overworked" thread and started feeling bad about myself.

Thoughts?

Polenth · May 9, 2010

Do you read a lot of weird fiction? If not, that's a good place to start.

linfred4 · May 9, 2010

Well, i would say my hubby and my best friend inspires me. But also when i am walking or just out with my mom something I see or say or hear makes me want to write.
I think anyone that wants to write or does write understands that sometimes things just come to you.
What you could do if you don't mind me saying this you could go to a park or a mall and just sit there with your note pad and watch people. I know from writing fiction, that people act and do enough weird things that something will come to you. I love fiction and I know one day my storys will be published, i just have to believe.

So, on that note I wish you the best

Z0Marley · May 10, 2010

Annabelle said:
I thought I was fairly original, until I read that "overworked" thread and started feeling bad about myself.

Thoughts?

Couple of my personal rules:

1.) Don't try to be original. Originality is there or it isn't. If it isn't, forcing it to be there makes things worse.

2.) Write what you want to write. There are hundreds of cliches, and it's hard to miss all of them. There are a billion freaking ways to do something out there. If you have your character waking up, and you're worried it's too cliche. Fast forward seven hours and see how the scene goes from there.

3.) Either start with a problem or start with a character. It's the best way to start. You can either start with the conflict and build characters around it, or you can start with characters and throw them into a heap of mess.

4.) Have fun with it. You're not going to write if you're not having fun.

Baryonyx · May 10, 2010

Dunno if this applies to other people or not but any original ideas I have come to me when I don't try and think about it.

A week or so ago I was sat trying to think of a story idea and struck a complete blank, the next day I was on the bus to college and suddenly the idea struck me

Just, don't stress over thinking of original ideas or looking for inspiration. Sooner or later in some random place you'll see something/hear something which will sow the seeds in your brain for a potential story.

Least that's what happens with me

Annabelle · May 10, 2010

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Kate Thornton · Jun 20, 2010

I know I'm late to this party, but I get original ideas from everything, everywhere. So do most folks - the trick is to note them somewhere so when you want to write a story, you have a bunch of crazy what-ifs to draw upon. Like for the 3 stories I wrote today, the what ifs were:
What if Dracula needed a real estate agent (I mean, who rented him Carfax Abbey)
What if County hospitals had to make some really drastic cost cuts. Really drastic...
What if you couldn't get just facial plastic surgery, but had to go the whole route with a new body...

You get the picture.

I watch the news, commercials, read, talk to people, interact, eavesdrop and butt in. I get lots of ideas through these activities.

artemis31386 · Jun 24, 2010

I get my ideas from music or real life situations. What's fun is that I write UF so that boss that I call a soul-sucker, really is a soul-sucking demon from hell in my books.

LucindaLynx · Oct 1, 2010

One never know, where the ideas come from. They may come from the left field and surprise.

Sheila Muirenn · Oct 27, 2010

Ideas from every single thing you notice. Put them all in.

You can edit out later, but you shouldn't need to remove much if you don't overthink it.

Or underthink it...

backslashbaby · Oct 27, 2010

My taste for the weird came from reading so much strange stuff for so long, I think. I don't try to make my stuff any more original or unusual than it comes out naturally; if anything, I try to tone it down to something comprehensible while still giving my heart to Marquez, Faulkner, et al

I can't help but be inspired by that type of author. It's practically all I read. And I used to write songs and odd shorts mostly, so mainstream fiction was rarely what I practiced. Or it wasn't what I liked writing best, in any case (I did it for friends).

jkababy · Nov 5, 2010

I get my inspiration mostly from music. There are certain songs that send me into a visual trance then I just type what I 'see'. I wrote the second half of my book to the same music, listened to it EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for a year as I clicked away....I never got sick of the songs...they were an elixir and I typed in time with the songs. I always wonder if that same DVD will be background music for book 2.

...getting ready to start on that.

quicklime · Nov 10, 2010

ideas are less difficult than getting into a frame of mind where you can catch them.

you may snicker at a ludicrous thought, think "what if x happened to Y?", imagine the car passing by you slamming right into the guardrail, etc. a thousand times in a single day. The trick is to be someplace, at least some of the time, where these thoughts take root, instead of where you then drop the thought to read your next paragraph, check the spedometer in spinning class, turn the radio up because that new Katie Perry song is on, etc.

I do my best thinking when I leave my car radio off, that much quiet for 30 minutes each direction leaves one hell of a vacuum. And thoughts I have then have a much greater likelihood of taking root and growing into something than the ones I get at dinner, or while playing with the kids, ro watching tv, or even on the same commute with the radio on. everyone is different, but I can say with certainty for me, ideas are always there....the trick is not being too busy to notice them.

Elias Graves · Dec 17, 2010

I just try to write things that I want to read but nobody else got around to writing it.
Sounds simplistic but, hey...

EG

richcapo · Dec 19, 2010

Kate Thornton said:
What if Dracula needed a real estate agent (I mean, who rented him Carfax Abbey)

Jonathan Harker. And it was a sale, not a lease.

Splendad · Jan 30, 2011

Inspiration hunts me mercilessly. I don't have to get it anywhere; it shoves itself down my throat. At least with writing, I have something I can do with it!

amyashley · Jan 30, 2011

I really don't want to know where my ideas come from. That's a scary thought. They are very weird things.

I think my subconscious cobbles them together from random bits, a bit like dreams are made. Only, they are a good bit more bizarre.

I have far too many of them to ever worry over running out.

richcapo · Mar 2, 2011

I received my MA in national security studies -- much of what I write is inspired by my degree -- and despite being an atheist, I'm very much interested in mystical fiction, especially in film, so along with the NS tendencies of my writing, my stories usually involve the supernatural. I'm also very interested in the way people speak, e.g., their rhythmic patters, flaws, diction, etc., so my stories are also very dialogue heavy. Music and wordplay are also interests of mine, so I experiment with meter, syncopation, and rhyme every now and then.

_Richard

nocomposer · Mar 3, 2011

Hey, what's the 'overworked' thread? Sounds like something I should read.

For me, I imagine themes or 'points' I want to make/explore/expound. Usually they're personal philosophies or life lessons--the bigger ones. Then I start looking for characters and storylines that can help me express them.

stormie · Mar 3, 2011

I get my inspiration from Mr.Manly-Man next door. He's on the creepy side.

Pistol Whipped Bee · Mar 3, 2011

Annabelle said:
what inspires you?

Just about everything. I try to pay attention with all my senses. There's a lot of incoming. Sorting through it is the challenging part.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Annabelle

Polenth

Mushroom

linfred4

Z0Marley

Baryonyx

Annabelle

Kate Thornton

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

artemis31386

All around miscreant

LucindaLynx

Sheila Muirenn

Rebuilding My Brain

backslashbaby

*

jkababy

Children, ready yourselves.

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

Elias Graves

Unrealistically Optimistic

richcapo

Knight Templar

Splendad

Correcting a man? Be right.

amyashley

Stunt-Writer

richcapo

Knight Templar

nocomposer

likes to write stories

stormie

storm central

Pistol Whipped Bee

Now what?

Where do you get your inspiration?

Mushroom

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

All around miscreant

Rebuilding My Brain

~~~~*~~~~

Children, ready yourselves.

all out of fucks to give

Unrealistically Optimistic

Knight Templar

Correcting a man? Be right.

Stunt-Writer

Knight Templar

likes to write stories

storm central

Now what?

*