Where do you get your ideas from?

smaur · 2006-08-29T20:19:42Z

So at some point, the majority of people who write stories are asked this question, and the majority of this majority can't really explain where they get ideas for stories. A lot of ideas, as a general rule, come from a lot of weird places, and tracking down every weird place is virtually impossible. So this is a slightly different take on the same question. Choose a story — the last one you wrote, the one you're writing right now, the first story you ever wrote ... any story. Where did it come from? How did the original idea blossom into existence? What inspired you to write it? Where did the subsequent ideas come from, the ideas that form the structure of the story? For example: the short story I'm working on right now. It's partly (by "partly", I mean maybe 4%) inspired by Beauty and the Beast; the words "library", "staircase", independence", and "choice"; and a story of CL's . Oh, and the recent Tom Cruise/Paramount scandal . So. Tell us about a story and where you got its ideas from (brownie points for being less vague than I was). Lather, rinse, repeat.

lexy

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Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:15 pm

lexy says... · Thu Nov 02, 2006 2:15 pm

I got a story idea from a programme on tv!!! (The bill) lol.
I am planning to completey make it my own and change the characters and the scene, obviously. xxxx

When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself. - Peter O'Toole

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Myth

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Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:53 pm

Myth says... · Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:53 pm

Oracle's Possession came when I was looking out the library window. It was very high up and I could see everything, the London Eye, Gherkin and I mean everything. And it was a pidgeon that inspired me, it was sitting on someone's roof and the whole idea of peras was formed immediately. Monessa came out eventually after various plans on a main character.

Curiosity Killed the Cats was from the FF challenge. The picture just stuck in my mind I always wanted to write something short involving two kids and a procession of strange people.

.: ₪ :.

'...'

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Sureal

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Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:24 pm

Sureal says... · Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:24 pm

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

I wrote the above just for you.

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Firestarter

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Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:28 pm

Firestarter says... · Thu Nov 02, 2006 4:28 pm

The Sky So Deeply Red is partly inspired by reading Tom Holland's book Persian Fire (which got me hooked on the period), a personal desire to write an account of the Battle of Thermopylae, reading related books like Stephen Pressfield's Gates Of Fire and David Gemmell's Lion Of Macedon and wanting to write a story in a similar vein.

Nate wrote:And if YWS ever does become a company, Jack will be the President of European Operations. In fact, I'm just going to call him that anyways.

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Incandescence

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Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:27 pm

Incandescence says... · Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:27 pm

I got the idea for Balloons in Winter most totally from my own experiences.

If I get inspired by external sources, which I have no experience with, I can't maintain the illusion of being inspired.

This probably tells you horrifyingly accurate things about my life.

"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders." -Hal Abelson

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