Young Writers Society

Anyone have any tips to ways get ideas for stories? We wouldn't judge you. XD Let's see how our friends on YWS get their ideas for stories! Now days, it's hard to find new original ideas for stories, because everything has been thought off.

For me personally, I get them from dreams that I have or from long deep thoughts. Just thinking for a little bit, staring at the sky and then BOOM, an idea appears.

It depends on what you mean by "ideas." I find that story concepts come out of nowhere - usually I'm walking somewhere (or pacing around my room as I so often do when I'm trying to think) and something hits me out of the blue. However, the ideas for scenes, characters etc. usually come in the intense mental planning sessions when I'm spending hours at a time playing with a whole load of possibilities and sifting through the ones I like the best.

Generally though, I can get inspired by a range of different things. Films, theatre productions, newspaper articles, a fictional story I've read or something as simple as a picture or quote can all help. I also find I get masses of ideas from simply working off a concept, for example writing a blurb for the back of the book before I have any idea what it's going to be about, or imagining the story as a film.

I just open a new, blank word document and stare at the white screen until an idea suddenly falls into my head. The problem is I do this way more often than I actually work on any stories so I end up with more stories than I can write at a time. I typed out a list of all the stories that I came up with and wanted to finish and found myself faced with a list of almost 40 titles. That didn't include sequels (and prequels) I had planned for unfinished stories. So yea... sit there and BOOM, idea after idea after idea.
I also occasionally get ideas from things I hear people say or from TV shows I watch/books I read.

Often I hear something that I think would make an interesting title, and then I think about what kind of story would come out of it. A lot of the time I mishear things that people say on the radio, and get intriguing ideas that way, as well! xP

I remember I once got an idea for a story whilst watching Indiana Jones... but aside from that, I don't recall how most of my ideas come to me. I know one characer's voice was inspired by the line "well, to be honest you look like a tosser", which came into my head as I was walking from school one day. As for ideas about the actual plot, I don't know when or how the inspiration struck or what prompted it.

I like to mash ideas from books, films, games, and TV shows I enjoy. At the moment, I'm considering a novel idea which mashes together elements of The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, the TV show Justified, the game Bioshock, and solar system colonisation themes from a couple of sci-fi novels I read this month.

So basically I steal themes and ideas from stuff, but throw it all together into a unique mixing pot, and then come up with my own ideas from the new blend.

KatyaElefant wrote:Anyone have any tips to ways get ideas for stories? We wouldn't judge you. XD Let's see how our friends on YWS get their ideas for stories! Now days, it's hard to find new original ideas for stories, because everything has been thought off.

For me personally, I get them from dreams that I have or from long deep thoughts. Just thinking for a little bit, staring at the sky and then BOOM, an idea appears.

I have to say I come up with them much the same way, it does vary but many of my ideas have come from dreams or times that the idea just suddenly popped into my head!!!

I don't know how, but the ideas randomly come to me. See, it feels like my brain is always processing stuff, lingering thoughts remain. Stuff that I saw, read, heard - it all just stays processed and packed away in my brain. And sometimes I feel like a random connection is made. And that's when a new idea is born.

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