oh boy...void of ideas

[cornell]

i havent even started writing and already im stumped. i have a couple of ideas that i dont think i ll go with (excuse my puncuation, im tired). they are either too dumb or too complicated for me to write. i know i can write but, and im sure this is a cliche, i dont know what to write about. what do you people do to get ideas. the main problem with the ones i have is that they arent very original. would it be unwise of me to share examples of these ideas right here so you can maybe give me an opinion? i mean ill probably never use them, i just want to see if im right or wrong in 'not' using them.

[triceretops]

Cornell

It never hurts to throw your ideas out for discussion--we've done it a few times on other threads--look up an older SCIENCE QUESTION, I think I started in the SCIENCE FICTION FORUM.
I read all the latest science stories from Smithsonian and Popular Science magazines--watch the latest discoveries on Nova, the Science Channel and other related programs just so I can wrap my brain around something thrilling and "fresh" and see if I can't run a plot smack into it to see if it might work. Some of your best mystery and true crime plots and characters can come from recent newspaper and television stories.

Triceratops

[GregMac]

I'm not sure how much this will help. But I'm reading a novel-writing book now that states, with no exceptions, there are no more new ideas.

But...

There are many, many ways to write original stories based on old ideas.

Allow me to explain what I learned from that lesson. Look at the Harry Potter books. The idea of a wizard fighting battles with other wizards is not new. J.K. Rowling made it original by making the wizard a boy who didn't know he was a wizard and dropping him and other wizards-in-training in the middle of the modern, mortal (Muggles) world.

Hope this helps some.

[cornell]

well these are two ideas i had. bear in mind they are just ideas and thats all.

somewhere in a small town in america, a radio station plays a daily extreme metal show (norwegian, swedish black metal and the likes). The DJ is going to be some shady character with ties to the occult. kids in the area start to commit suicide, murder people of religous influence, parents, teachers...any figure of authority. turns out this radio show is churning out subliminal messages. i dont know if these kids and the people involved in the show are going to be part of a cult, a deeper conspiricy, or just hellbent on creating havoc in their small town. thats about all i have so far.

another one is where scientists start creating genetically modified soldiers, cloned from some of the best fighters the military has ever seen...not just infantry but MI, pilots etc. super humans. this progresses and over time we start cloning and modifying sports people, ceo's, even prostitutes etc. very soon this becomes more widespread and a super-human genetically modified human race evolves to serve all purposes beyond ordinary people (organics or something), who are becoming obsolete. a rebellion begins....i can go so many places with this story, but its a tough nut to crack.

these are just examples...maybe very cliched, but ideas nevertheless.

[maestrowork]

Put some characters in a situation at a location. Start writing.

[Mistook]

I agree with Maestro. Those are both perfectly good starting points.

[triceretops]

Something else comes to mind I've been thinking about in regard to starting up novel ideas. I call it the reverse effect and I've seen it used many times and there's literally thousands of combinations. For instance (have been used to great success):

Firemen start fires in (Farenheit 451)

Drivers are rewarded for running down pedestrians (Death Race 2,000)

Man doesn't realize HE''S the ghost (actually a twist in The Sixth Sense)

Beautiful people considered ugly (Twilight zone episode?)

Police are vigilantes and break law (One of the Dirty Harry movies)

Game shows kills contestants as punishment (The Running Man)

How about some original ideas:

A vampire is squeamish of blood.

Weathy people live in prisons to protect them from middle class

If you don't belong to a cult or gang you're subject to arrest and imprisonment

Children adopt their parents

Cars are so smart they choose their owners (compatibility)

Animals start domesticating people (children's fantasy story probably done)

Plants and flowers start listening to rap and techno and start to thrive physically but begin to get out of hand and cause trouble

Serial killers become idolized and are set free to be worshipped by the masses.

Reputation points in a huge writer's group cause spree killings

Fish devise a way of catching people (horror, Frank'l love that one)

Souls are outlawed so scientists devise a way of removing them. (catastrophic results)

The printed word is deemed unconstitutional so postal workers are dispatched to rid everyone's households of contraband writing and communication

Obestiy(sp) is encouraged to prematurely kill off those who might have reached social security age so the government won't go finacially bust.

I don't know, these are just some fun ideas, but it CAN get you thinking. Most of these ideas might lean toward sci-fi, horror, or fantasy ideas. What can you think of that might be considered domestic or conventional?

Triceratops

[muscort]

Cornell, I'm not here to burst your bubble but... Your second story idea about genetic super humans has been tackled on the one of the most recent Outer Limits shows(I believe it was sometime in the late 90's). Also, the movie Gattaca has some similarities. I'm not trying to get you not to write about that, I would just suggest watching that movie(Gattaca) and the show(Outer Limits) to veer off and make it your own. I don't remember which Outer Limits it was. You'd probably have to search for it. I hope this has been helpful.

[triceretops]

I do believe the genetic soldier thing was also done with Soldier, with Kurt Russel.

Tri

[WVWriterGirl]

Cornell - here's some techniques I use, and maybe a different direction for your first idea.

I watch a lot of TLC, Discovery Channel and Travel Channel. Not so much for the sci-fi element, but for the historical shows. I write primarily fantasy, and I find the sweeping vistas they picture there - castles on hillsides, lush and untouched valleys, the pyramids in Egypt - all serve to paint scenes in my mind that I can later draw on for inspiration, or they can even spark ideas. One that I had recently, but rejected because I simply don't have the time for the research, is Stonehenge. I thought it would be interesting to do a twist on history with how the bluestones got from Wales to the Salisbury Plain.

Another technique I use is what I call the "what if method". I'll look up fantasy pictures (since it's my genre). I find one I like - say it's a man on horseback riding away from a castle - and then I ask myself, "Where's he going? Why is he leaving the castle? What if his mother, the queen, just threw him out? What if his father, the king, demanded that he marry someone he knows is no good for him or his kingdom?" My questions to myself could go on for hours, and before I know it, I've got a whole story laid out in front of me, waiting for me to write.

And now on to the twist for your story idea #1 - perhaps the DJ isn't a cult member, but is in fact a demon. He's hiding it well, posing as someone into satanism or whatever, but he's actually a minion of the devil, preparing to unleash hell on earth. Just an idea...

Hope this helps some...

WVWG

[Writing Again]

My view: Your problem is not that you don't have ideas, you obviously have at least two: Your problem is that you have not found an idea that excites you.

The best places to find something that excites you is in character, location, situation, event, or a combination of those four.

Of those four the one that will set your story apart from all others is the characters involved. How they interact with the situation, event, location, and the other characters.

So no matter what you have to have characters that excite you and the reader. Without that you have nothing, no matter what brand or type of story you write.

[preyer]

i agree, the second story has been done quite a bit in lots of different ways. but, hey, there's always room for one more, eh? you know, i stopped trying to be 'original' and decided to try and be entertaining.

smithsonian magazine kicks ***. i go through it and write down great words i see in the articles. those old time-life volumes are an endless source of 'inspiration'. i pick 'em up at library sales for fifty cents each, but most second-hand book stores have them.

i'm sure writers get their ideas from a million sources. obviously, being observant is a key. and write what you'd like to read. a story i did a long, long time time reminds me of your first idea, where i took nicolo paganini, a real historical person with a truly scandalous life, and used him as a soul who escapes hell when a lost etude of his is played by a modern virtuoso. the etude, impossible to play by anyone else, is really a spell that allows him to return to life. and, of course, hell follows with him. turns out hell doesn't take kindly to escapees. the point is that story was a conglomeration of things that i was interested in at the time.

paintings are a pretty good source for me, too, but then again i'm a very visual person. nothing, however, beats out classical music as inspiration for me.

i think you can run with those ideas. i feel the first one is stronger, imo. :)

[paprikapink]

Those are great ideas. It's all about what you do with them.

Has anyone ever kept count of how many books (and movies) are reworked Jane Austen novels? I love Jane Austen. But, I did notice eventually, that even Jane Austen novels are reworked Jane Austen novels. I guess really it was that Shakespeare guy who ran around early on and scooped up all the plots.

And of course it goes without saying that you are already eating with a spoon every word of "Learning to Write with Uncle Jim" and/or "Uncle Jim Undiluted" elsewhere in this forum. Jah?

-pkpk

[Mistook]

Cornell, I'm not here to burst your bubble but... Your second story idea about genetic super humans has been tackled on the one of the most recent Outer Limits shows(I believe it was sometime in the late 90's). Also, the movie Gattaca has some similarities. I'm not trying to get you not to write about that, I would just suggest watching that movie(Gattaca) and the show(Outer Limits) to veer off and make it your own. I don't remember which Outer Limits it was. You'd probably have to search for it. I hope this has been helpful.


It seems like every episode of the Outer Limits is about an android, a clone, a cyborg, a cyborg that is half android/half clone, or a clone that thinks he's an android.

[SRHowen]

It's not the idea, it's what you do with it.

Sometimes instead of trying to reason out what you will do with an idea, you just need to start with a scene, a character doing something, or a place. Write. Period. And see what comes out of the keyboard, without thought to even what genre it is going to be.

You simply write---

Shawn

[fallenangelwriter]

Neither genetic modifaction and revolt nor the radio control is completely new.


but you can certainly write a new story. figure out the motivations of the genetically modified. maybe the story isn't simply us vs. them, but only some people on eaqch side want to kill each other. make it a story about race hatred with the protagonist a policeman on a biased force.

anything can see a new take, a new viewpoint.

[clotje]

Hi Cornell,
About the occult/radio story. How much do you know about the occult? In my experience someone who "deals" in the occult doesn't do it for kicks. Also if someone knows what he's doing he won't need to use the radio for subliminal messages.
You can pm me if you want more info.

[preyer]

i think the idea there was it's a small town without a huge population, eh? so, by any and all means possible, the occult guy needs to recruit new members. from that standpoint, i think the idea is workable. not like you can hand out fliers advertising, 'hey, wanna be a devil-worshipper? call....' nor in a rural community will you find on main street the feed store, tractor sales, occult shop, and corner diner all in a row, lol. actually, i'd probably approach this as a comedy.

[Denis Castellan]

Maybe the DJ is just "having fun" with large red candles, pentagrams, backward-playing prayers submixed with his voice and such and it's just part of his "show", he doesn't really believe in the occult (you know, a bit like the gothic movement cliches back in the '80s. Just replace Christian Death with Dark Tranquillity ;))

Maybe he starts thinking some of the tragic events are related with his supposedly "innocent" games and he feels guilty. He wonders if he hasn't awaken some dark force... He goes to the studio to erase his material and he finds some other material (such as subliminal stuff) that doesn't belong to him.

Maybe in the end he turns to be the "hero" who finds out what's happening and not the bad guy after all...

[William Haskins]

people who say that don't have any ideas are like people who claim they don't dream. the brain *has* to dream, and the brain has to imagine. you're just not touching the right part of your perceptions.

embrace the walter mitty in yourself. let yourself be swept away from the landlord, the bills, that slicing pain in your spleen, your crack dealer's incessant calls -- and imagine.

[Denis Castellan]

people who say that don't have any ideas are like people who claim they don't dream.

I don't dream... I just spend some time in alternate realities while I'm asleep. And when I'm not asleep too, quite often.

I even know a place where I'm a real writer, you know...

[William Haskins]

I just spend some time in alternate realities while I'm asleep.

by any chance, are your sheets sticky when you get back?

[Denis Castellan]

by any chance, are your sheets sticky when you get back?

err... I'm not sure I understand what you mean exactly but if I said something that upset you in my previous post I apologize for that.
I just tried to say something kind of funny (hence the ;) in the post title) with no other intention.

[William Haskins]

i was also trying to be funny. i'm just terrible at it.

it was just your standard wet-dream reference.

[Denis Castellan]

Maybe you're not that terrible : I may be a little suspicious sometimes (especially at 3am)...

Ok, then...

by any chance, are your sheets sticky when you get back?
No, I'm very careful about that : I always let the ink dry before I touch the sheets :)

[cornell]

Maybe the DJ is just "having fun" with large red candles, pentagrams, backward-playing prayers submixed with his voice and such and it's just part of his "show", he doesn't really believe in the occult (you know, a bit like the gothic movement cliches back in the '80s. Just replace Christian Death with Dark Tranquillity ;))

Maybe he starts thinking some of the tragic events are related with his supposedly "innocent" games and he feels guilty. He wonders if he hasn't awaken some dark force... He goes to the studio to erase his material and he finds some other material (such as subliminal stuff) that doesn't belong to him.

Maybe in the end he turns to be the "hero" who finds out what's happening and not the bad guy after all...

hey denis i like that twist....i really really like that angle. I can do humour pretty well actually. I already have a title and that angle would fit it perfectly (not that im building the story around my title of course). but to answer an earlier post if i know anything about the occult...on an academic level, enough to get me by...on an experience level...quite a bit. i have tried out different groups in my time...OTO, scietology and did a couple of articles on the occult for my magazine. played around with the occult a lot in the 90's. to no avail....well, i got scared and backed off.

[Denis Castellan]

hey denis i like that twist....i really really like that angle.
Hey, if you can just find a place for my name on your acknowledgments page and send me a copy of the hardcover edition, that will be great :D

[clotje]

but to answer an earlier post if i know anything about the occult...on an academic level, enough to get me by...on an experience level...quite a bit. i have tried out different groups in my time...OTO, scietology and did a couple of articles on the occult for my magazine. played around with the occult a lot in the 90's. to no avail....well, i got scared and backed off.

Hehehe, I know that feeling of getting scared. You get used to it though (or at least I did). The thriller I'm working on at the moment (the book that is writing itself) deals with witchcraft and a serial killer.