Another Idea Thread...

My humble opinion, etc.

We've all watched so many TV shows and films (and maybe video games too) that we've subconsciously absorbed everything we need to generate our own action movie, or romcom, or drama, or whatever, regardless of our personal experiences. We're like Leo DiCaprio's character in "Catch Me If You Can" -- we've watched courtroom dramas and medical dramas, we can now be lawyers or doctors. (I know a couple of posters who proudly claim, "I don't have a TV" -- a situation that bewilders me. TV has been the greatest source of education in my life. At the very least, how do you know what's been done and what hasn't been done before, if you don't watch TV?)

Anyways... all it needs is that "germ" you're talking about to spark a new story off. For me, this could come from anywhere -- a joke, a punchline, a fantasy, a visual scene that pops into my head out of nowhere. A TV show or film I watched 20+ years ago.

I admit that I've taken broad themes from films and written stories around them. Just for example's sake, "High Noon" -- how often have we seen the isolated hero with right on his side having to confront overwhelming odds and betrayal? It's such a familiar theme that we might not even notice it lying beneath a film's surface imagery. But you can take that core idea and grow something new and different around it. That's the exciting part.

-Derek
-> * <- Click on this magic star to be transported to my website. Ruby slippers optional.
________________________________________________
You are .exe When given proper orders, you execute them flawlessly. You're familiar to most, and useful to all.

A couple of techniques I use are:

1 - Actual Events

Actual events are a good starting point. Sometimes things happen in real life that are so 'perfect', they'd be totally unbelievable in fiction.

eg:

a. When the leader of the Sherlock Holmes fan club is murdered under mysterious circumstances, the remaining fan-club members band together to use their idol's techniques to solve the bizarre murder. --- True Story ---
(OK, in reality they never solved the murder, but it's still a great starting point for a story)

b. In Nazi Germany, an enthusiastic member of the Hitler Youth discovers that he has an identical twin brother he has never met - who is Jewish.

This second one is really weird - totally unbelievable in fiction. If it wasn't true then I'd dismiss it as being too far out.

2 - 'What If ...'

Even with more prosaic real life events, you can always add the 'What If' factor. For example:

Prosaic reality. You are cleaning the basement ... but 'What If' ....

... What if you found a pile of old photos - you on the baseball team at school, university graduation photos, wedding photos, kid's first birthday ... but none of it ever happened? In reality you are single, alone, never graduated - never did any of those things in the photos, but here is proof of a life you don't remember having??? What would you do?

OK - this is what Derek would call a 'brain fart', but is shows how a boring event can be changed into the idea of a story....

Mac

I get my ideas from many places, one being T.V., usually something will spark my interest on the history channel or sometimes I'll get an idea from a T.V show or movie, but more times than not I get ideas from reading. I read all the time, newspapers, magazines, books, anything I can get my hands on. My last idea came from reading an article on the interenet. Sometimes I'll just search the web until something gets my attention.

Funny how as writers our minds automatically start to spin things into a story. No matter what it is, I think...Hmmm, this could be interesting. Sometimes I can come up with a good idea just out of the smallest simplest things.

Steph

If reading the news every day isn't enough inspiration, then TV sure as heck is. Those plus the crazy antics I hear about at arties, are my main sources of inspiration.

I have nothing as intellectual to offer as previous posters. I'm just usually minding my own business when *BIP* an idea pops into my head. I could be mowing the lawn, doing dishes, walking into my apartment and an idea wi -- hey-oh! There goes one now...

Things just pop into my head

as well. HEY, no jokes about it being empty!!!!!!!!!

I'm a day dreamer. I create little fantasies all the time.
Just wasting time while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store or folding laundry.

I was sitting on the side lines of my daughters karate class and a new student came in. Her name was Arden. Suddenly my mind started whirling. I thought that sounded real science fictiony and so I thought about what kind of a character Arden could be, what kind of adventures she would have.
I got a whole new story just from that one name.
Lucky for me I always keep an idea journal with me.

One of my scripts got started because I tried to write a script I thought my favorite actor at the time would be interested in. I wrote a whole story revolving around him but then after a bunch of research I knew I had a found a better story and so cut out the fav actor part.

Another script comes from a song I'm adapting, and I have a few books I'd like to take a whack at as well.

Sometimes I get ideas from things in the news, then expand on them. Other times I get them from dreams--although usually when I fully wake up, they're not such good ideas.

I get most of my ideas for characters and little situations from people I clean for in my cleaning business. There are a lot of really weird people out there; people that you look at and think you know how they live or what they're like, and they are completely different than you'd think. For example, we clean for a big, burly guy who is an ex-cop and now a fireman (in his late 50's). He has to be home to watch Little House on the Prairie every day at one o'clock. Weird.

Hahaha ha

What a softy.