So, I have an account over on Yahoo! and I like to go into the Yahoo!Answers and give advise and such for pretty much anything. One of my favorite catagories is the "Authors & Books" section. One of the questions I see a lot are people trying to come up with characters and plots. This actually shocked me a bit at first because they come to me too easily (I'm usually in overload mode), but I'm sure these people aren't alone, so I thought I would post up some thoughts here, and if anyone else has some ideas to share.
One of my tips is to think like a character. Technically, you are a character: you have a description, a bio, and a potential story. This goes for people around you, too (you know, that weird guy that sits on the same bench everyday by himslef. He's a character, too).
Think about it this way: The characters in stories don't know what is going to happen to them. Up until this story took place, they were living a mundane (or relativly normal) life and yet one thing leads to another and next thing they know, they are on some adventure or solving some mystery.
Next time you are bored out of your skull, try picturing your character description. Like right now: I'm the bored intern with headphones over one ear, waiting for work. Maybe on a trip to the bathroom, I'll bump into some spy trying to steal information from the company, or the man of my dreams. Maybe that guy on the bench is by himself because he's abnormal and avoids people, until someone talks to him and it turns out that he is an alien.
Every little thing can lead up to a story worth telling, keep that in mind if you are stuck for ideas.
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