What are the weirdest places/ times you get your ideas for your novel

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Angel_Lorena26

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Here is a question that I think has never been asked and if it has well them I am sorry. But I was wondering if any writers have suddenly been hit with ideas for your novels in the most oddest places or times? I was in both Borders and Barnes and Noble looking for Sherrilyn Kenyons first book. I swear in both places I was being bombared by ideas for my second book and a possible third book . It is the weirdest thing because it always happens like that. Of course at the time I didn't have a pen or paper to write it down wish I did though seeing my memory isn't the best.
 

ragefaith

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I get my ideas at all sorts of impractical times - in the shower, in class, before bed, doing dishes, etc.
 

Mumut

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I get a huge number of ideas when I'm doing boring things and often when I can't possibly write anything down. One of my favourite places is hanging clothes on the line. A different situation completely is when I re-read my work after a break.
 

KTC

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Oh yes, this question has been asked many times. But it's a question people like to answer.

I occasionally get mine when I'm sleeping, which is pretty annoying. I wake up with the idea whole and fresh and vivid. If I don't get it down on paper fast, it's lost.

I also get a lot of ideas while I'm driving...you spent a lot of head-space time while driving, so it's bound to happen.
 

tailstrike

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I get my ideas and random pieces of writing when im doing 'automatic' things ie cleaning, showering, dishes, driving is a big one, mowing the lawn...Although studies show that this might be because you are most relaxed doing things you do without thinking...
 

MetalDog

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The oddest times tend to be when a floating, partnerless idea finds another idea to mate with. So you're going along all lalalala, in the middle of a conversation, or a supermarket, or doing your day job and someone says something, or something catches your eye and every other thought gets blown clean out of your head by two notions colliding.

It's at its most annoying when it happens mid-conversation, because the other person is still talking and you're trying to pretend you're still listening when really you're running around your own head with a staple gun trying to make sure it doesn't get away.
 

Wayne K

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It hits me when it hits me, but I do need to write it down immediately. It's a good thing I don't write erotica, or I'd be divorced.
 

brainstorm77

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My dreams usually.
 
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Whenever I'm doing something completely unconnected to writing. Most inconvenient.
 

Greenify13

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Weirdest time would have to be when I was changing a diaper (I know, competely weird). Don't worry it had nothing to do with diapers. Mostly I get my ideas while laying in bed, I spend a lot of time watching the time on the ceiling, so most of it comes then. Best time was when I was laying there, and an entire poem came to me. I had to jump out of bed and go write it down! But this happens a lot with my poems, which is a very good thing, they say "never go to bed angry". I lay there pissed-off, write a poem-calm down, and eventually sleep in a better mood then before....
 
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I just realised. My last post might have sounded like I was talking about the bathroom. :eek: I didn't mean that! I just meant, whenever I'm doing something unconnected to writing like...washing the dishes or if I'm at the pub, that's when I think of a story idea.
 

seun

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I get a lot of ideas just as I'm falling asleep. It's often the case the ones I remember in the morning are complete crap.
 

RJK

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The creative (right) side of your brain is non-verbal and is overwhelmed by all the words being used by the left hemisphere. Only when you turn off the left side, do you give the right side a chance to speak up. Doing simple tasks, going for a walk, driving a car (not in heavy traffic), washing dishes, taking a shower, soaking in the tub, all those things where you're not tasking you left hemisphere, allow your right hemisphere to dominate for a few seconds and let you know what it's been thinking about.
If you stop and write down what the idea was, the left hemisphere takes over again and you may lose the rest of the thought. Let the idea play itself out, then take notes later.
 

tehuti88

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I'm sure I've gotten ideas at some weird places and times. Unfortunately, I usually don't remember such things since I don't tend to take note of the exact moment I get an idea. I spend so much time developing my ideas that eventually, it's like they've always been there. I can think of only a very few times when I remember what sparked a specific idea. Often it happens during my reading.

The basic idea behind my main fantasy storyline now came to me years ago after my best friend and I visited a sort of funhouse ("Haunted Theater") on Mackinac Island and enjoyed the displays, a few of them based on local Ojibwa mythology. We went home and started working on a story based on the displays...the rest is history.
 

ChaosTitan

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Taking a shower or driving are when I do a lot of my best thinking. Also just as I'm falling asleep. All of them are seriously inconvenient, but they are when my mind is usually free to just think about stuff. I've also gotten some cool ideas while waiting in lines at amusement parks. And just last night I got a hit while answering a post on a livejournal group. :)
 

cbenoi1

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> If I don't get it down on paper fast, it's lost.

My MP3 player can be used as a voice recorder. Very handy.

-cb
 

semilargeintestine

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Dreams and daydreams mostly, but sometimes they'll pop out of no where when I'm involved in something. When I remember my dreams, they're usually very vivid and strange; most are too nonsensical to turn into anything, but I can usually find something to use.
 

Inky

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Liiiike, when I'm about to gleefully ram my car into the jackass Audi in front of me on the Autobahn, or when I'm teaching my husband endurance by holding his head under water.

*shrug*

And, of course, during these times of fabulous brain activity, I'm a million miles away from pen and paper so have to hope memory lasts beyond the next billboard screaming there's a sale at Crate&Barrel.com
 

KikiteNeko

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I keep a piece of paper taped to my steering wheel.
 

Red_Dahlia

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I usually get mine when I'm doing chores or on long road trips (10 hour drives are great motivators for the subconscious). I also get a few from my dreams.

It's at its most annoying when it happens mid-conversation, because the other person is still talking and you're trying to pretend you're still listening when really you're running around your own head with a staple gun trying to make sure it doesn't get away.

I hate it when this happens! I'm apparently not very good at hiding the fact that my mind has gone elsewhere, and tend to stop talking mid-sentence.
 
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