Inspiration for stories

Question

This is not really a challenge.  I'm interested in finding out what inspires your writing.  Where do your ideas come from?  Is it easier to just bang out a story that pops into your head or let it ruminate and write and rewrite it until it suits you?  Anything along this line would be welcome.  I'll add my two cents for all it's worth along the way.

Comments

Thank you all for sharing your "inspiration".  The biggest reason I wanted to hear your thoughts is because I find inspiration from many things and nothing.  Often a story idea pops out at the wrong time like when I am driving home from work, and it is gone by the time I get home.  I do tend to go more towards the "mind bender" or macabre story lines.  I've always been a big fan of horror movies and books of the same ilk.  It's hard for me to write soft stories.  If I get a word list or challenge that has some grip to it my mind explodes.  If it's poetry forget it.

Probably the most important thing that bends my inspiration is my life.  Some of the things I have written in the past are very true and others have been near true experiences.  I have witnessed a lot of "scary" things along the way and its effect on my psyche is a big contributor to my "random thoughts" and "monster man" monikers I have acquired from individuals on this site.  I can live with it.

Answer 1

Sometimes I'm inspired by the word list, sometimes a story just comes to me.  I like to mull it over in my mind for a while before I start writing it down. Sometimes I have the whole story worked out in my mind first but usually I just have the start and I work on the rest as I type it out.

Comments

Same for me.

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Yes dragon, I knew you were going to say that.  I think you were the one who stuck the word list in your pocket and carried it around for inspiration.  I have a small notebook where I write the ten words and with each new ThinkWrite I start another page.  I have to write my life down or it doesn't get done. lol.

Answer 2

Often, if I have been thinking about a particular story and what I want to put in it, like a character that just popped into my head or a certain plot twist, and if that random thing doesn't fit, all those extra random things sort of float around in my head. Occasionally, when I'm not thinking very hard, they react into a whole new idea that is in a totally new direction than the previous story. So, I'd say they sort of spawn themselves.

Comments

AH, but what was your mindset at the time when it justs pops out.  After it does, do you ruminate over it, write an outline, blast it out and hope it makes sense or does it truly "spawn" itself?

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Usually, it truly spawns itself, meaning the whole premise of the story. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, plotwise, but I know the situation, I meet some of my characters, and basically the stage pops out already set. Most of the time, it answers a "what if" kind of question. What if this happened? Given this character (as part of the stage), where would this thread go? The idea is like a glimpse of a fossil, and I have to dig out the rest of it, but it's there, fully formed.

Answer 3

Mine almost always pop into my head - usually fully formed.

I wrote "Mist" recently - my biggest work in a long, long while. And I'd been talking with midnightpoet for a while. We'd been swapping ideas for some time about a collaboration. We both floated ideas. I'm not too into her main idea but I'm still ruminating over it but I floated her two big ideas I have and have had for a while.

One is a Harry Potter in Space idea which she didn't like and the other was a first-person American Zombie Adventure. I was thinking that no one has ever told the zombie tale from the first-person. We swapped some ideas - I still have some ideas and still think it's a great project but then, while this was going on I got thinking about the dead - the dead risen - and viola - what if they all rose? All of them.

And "Mist" was born. From such a tiny idea.

I think motivation comes from confidence and truly, truly falling in love with an idea and not giving a damn what anyone else thinks about it. Just running with it.

That's my two cents worth.

Ron

Comments

The "Mist" story was a huge one for me.  It is a true orginal.  There could have been a million ways you could have taken that.  That was a brilliant idea.  With more fleshing out it would be a best seller.

I wonder about what you said about "motivation comes from confidence and truly, truly falling in love with an idea..."

Is that really enough to "inspire" you to write?  What about an idea that just sparks and you blast it out and yeah, you run it through some form of computer editing and may tweak it here and there, but it is more an impulse.  I am not a great study of writers and that is partly why I posed this challenge.  I would like you to explain more of how you take that "tiny" idea and produce it into a story.  Pop,  the idea of the dead rising, all of them...(then what?)

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Ah, yes, "then what?" That's the hard part. Writing tiny little stories like those on ThinkWrite is easy. Even easier if you get rules you need to stick to, like word lists. But if you have a blank page in front of you, or worse, plenty of blank pages, you're in trouble.
I'm writing what I hope will turn out to be a novel. For the initial idea, I had to think long and hard, what would be interesting enough for others to read. I came up with the general idea, all too happy that I'm through the hard part and started writing. I got through a few pages and got stuck. Turns out a general idea is nowhere near an actual plot. So I left it for a while. Then I went through it and expanded some things in the middle, instead of just adding to the end. I defined the characters better, gave them a bit of a backstory. As I was doing small changes and additions, other ideas started popping into my head. I wrote them down as notes, but only went to actually write them when they expanded into a scene. I guess it's a combination of active thinking and just going with it when you get an inspiration. Also, it helps that I'm writing it on my phone, because I get an inspiration in the weirdest of places. Mind you, my way is not very productive. I can only hope I'll be done with it in the next 10 years.

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Doug - concerning Mist. It was just a pop and I slammed it out as an impulse. But you specifically were the inspiration to write more. Your comments encouraged me to think about what would happen next. And I think it was QSilv who said no - it stood on it's own. But she also said "Unless you can find more story with the same mood" or somesuch.

So I kept thinking. My brain always runs to the big picture but I had to make it smaller. I needed a character. I almost always write about boys or men because I was/am one. I intentionally went away from that and decided to look at the situation from a child's perspective and went with a girl. Once I made that decision her name just rolled off the keyboard and I knew her father was dead without thought. I knew immediately their relatioship would be how the reader learns of the events.

I had thought several plots points about how it would all end and she was going to be involved in it - either by asking her Dad to return to death or challenging him to find the strength to NOT rejoin the dead.

But I still didn't know how it had all began or would end. When I came up with Cat idea everything else changed. I had to try and figure it out myself while trying to write it while also jumping back to characters which had gotten out of hand.

And - in all honesty - I got tired of the project. And I slammed the door on the whole thing. I wanted to do different things but I realized I had in fact chosen Campfire Stories to post the thing in so I made a decision in favor of the readers (truly) to provide a cheap thrill and also leave it open for more.

Meghan's new baby sister will be a half-breed; half human, half dead.

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Oh doug - you said is that really enough to inspire you to write. Not by half. Writing for me is not fun. When I discovered ThinkDraw I fell in love with it but as my pieces got more and more elaborate I simply lost inspiration. It's too much work.

My inspiration is simply this - boredom. I'm barely working right now. I'm sick of tv. I'm living in my sister's basement and she has only basic cable so there are no good movies. And I'm a night-owl.

Writing is something to do.

Also - I smoke. I'm a heavy smoker. I find myself outside a lot just standing there smoking. What are you gonna do with your brain with all this time. A decent project is a nice diversion.

I guess I'm trying to say that writing lately is compensating for my not working. It IS my work. Look at it that way - don't try to write the Great American Novel - but do log the hours. Do the work.

I did this the other night with a story called "How to Build a Father" I just wanted to write. The news was on and a story came on about a pedophile and I decided to write. I had no idea what it was going to be. But I set it up, named the character and came up with what I think is my best piece ever. (No one else seems to agree but I don't judge my own stuff the way others do.) That story has actual layers, back-story, characters and even some symbolism and really challenges the reader to think about stuff and even make their own decisions.

I wasn't inspired to do that. But I've been working (writing) a lot lately and that kind of stuff starts happening strangely on their own.

Just work.

And finally. I apologize for not reading enough of everyone else's work on here. It's part of why I said in another thread that I never want the torch again. It's too much work. I'd rather write than read right now.

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Ron, your story of the aging pedophile was one of your best pieces, I think people haven't commented more on it because they may not know how to comment on a story about a pedophile who is actually a person with foibles and not some monster we can all revile.  I thought the character seemed very real.

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I'm glad you are writing again. I would also add that there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism of others work on this site.  That is just part of the deal.  This "blood feud" that you and giraffe have only amuses me.  I kinda expect it to rear its ugly head every so often.  Please continue writing.  I've kind of hit a rough spot right now.  A mild case of writer's block and really don't have the heart to put the amount of effort needed.  I'll contribute as I can.

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Doug.  So often people pass the torch saying something like "I couldn't choose between 4 different ones, so I just had to go with the one I liked the best personally."  The desire to amuse enters into it, too.

BTW, I am over the angry stuff.  Moving right along.

Answer 4

http://www.thinkdraw.com/picture.php?pictureId=101500

This is just a test.  Please tell me how you added a pic Dragon and Ron.  If this works never mind, but I'm not always so technoclined (a new word ya' know).

Comments

Hey doug, I was making some changes on my profile and I noticed a spot to add an avatar or something like that so I browsed my picture album and picked one.

I just couldn't believe that I was the first person to see it, usually I'm woefully un-tech-savvy.


I don't have a clue how to get one of my ThinkDraw pics to use though, I still have trouble getting them to post on my Facebook properly.

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On the upper right of all the ThinkWrites screen there is a link labeled "My Account". If you click on that it brings up a page with details on your account; username, email, etc...

Then there is a section labeled Avatar with three option. One is "None" which is the default. The second is "Show my Gravatar" and I have no idea what this is. But if you click the third, unlabeled option it then allows you to use the Brows button beside ot to select any image file on your computer.

If you select this last you then just browse to whatever image you want to use.

If you do, in fact, want to use a ThinkDraw image you have to jump through a hoop or two to get it on your computer first.

First step is to log onto ThinkDraw and browse to your desired picture.

Then, notice just below the picture are several buttons. One says "Print"

Click the "Print" button and your image will show up in a new window and a print box will appear. Hit cancel in the print box which will leave the image up on the screen in printable format. Now right-click the image and select "Save Picture As" from the resulting menu.

Now just select a location and file name and save it.

Then return to ThinkWrites, log in, click on My account, select the third option under Avatar and hit Browse. Browse to the image you just saved. Scroll down a bit and click the "Save Profile" button and viola. It's done.

Good luck.

Ron

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Dragon and Ron:  Thanks!  Looks a bit like my oreo who passed away two weeks ago.  Have his brother tho' who loves to lay in the sink when I'm in the shower. :)

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So sorry to hear about your cat passing away so recently.  Hope you guys and his brother are doing alright with the transition.

Answer 5

Doug.  Usually something about the particular challenge or the word list will inspire me for the first sentence.  Then I go on from there.  The stories just develop from there -  like life itself.  It's raw and heart felt and if I come out with anything good, it turns into a bigger piece.  Good question.

Comments

I have the same starting off point a lot.  I come up with a kick ass first line and then the story falls into place,  and then sometimes it just sucks and I shelve it.

Answer 6

My inspiration comes from nothing. It all in my head. I have a imagination bigger then the skys and the earth. I could go from a love story to a poem or Nonfiction to Fiction. Your imagination is the key to writting!

Answer 7

My inspiration is rarely any sort of true inspiration. When I get a big idea, I can't do anything with it because it's too big to tackle. Ron mentioned that him and I talked a while about a collaboration, and that he didn't really like my main idea. I want to collaborate with him because he's so much better with the ideas, really.

But I have an idea for a novel that I've been sitting on for a long time. An idea, that with writing and fleshing it out, I think could be great. But I can't write it. It's too big. I can't take a whole concept or idea and write the story knowing where I want it to go.

When I write on here, what typically happens is I think "I want to sit down and write, let me see what challenges are up there." After looking and picking a challenge to tackle, I start to write. I start with one sentence. One sentence turns into two. I believe the term for what I do is "downhill writing". I just start, with no real idea in mind and let the story from itself from sentence to sentence. Afterwards, I edit for clarity (or to meet a word count), but generally when I write this way, there's very little editing afterwards, because I wasn't trying to write a whole idea, I was trying to write and the idea came from that.

There are other times I write where I go to my "muse" and run the concept of the challenge by him and let him feed me a general idea and I run with that. This happened with the zombie girl story I wrote on here for one of the challenges. He also gave me the idea for "Lunch Lady Lois" and "The Secret Lives of Shovels", both of which were posted in challenges back on ThinkDraw.

Another form of inspiration for me is just words. A small snippet of something, a sentence or a phrase, will pop into my head, and I'll like the way it flows and think I need to do something with it. This is generally how most of my poetry forms.