How do you come up with ideas for stories?

[srm628]

I'm kind of newer to actually writing. I've been dabbling in it since middle school, but recently I have decided to take it more seriously. When it comes to ideas, I use a number of things. One of the worst is probably television. I see an idea and think "Huh, that's a good baseline. That's edit it and see how weird I can make it." Other times it's things that people say or things I see. My favorite, however, is writing prompts. I absolutely love them and love the see the different ways people go with them.

[P_hernandez]

I come up with ideas to write by feeling. Thoughts come to me and I put them down on paper. Sort of how "the wand chooses the wizard," the words choose to be written and I obey. Which sounds odd, I know. But it works for me.

[writer_in_red]

The first idea for a story often comes from random daydreams or thoughts I have. From there, I like to get creative by writing things out by hand. I draw maps of the world in which my story takes place, write out time lines, draw sketches of important items or people, and even write side stories and poems. I find when I do this, ideas come to me easily and my plot-line and characters come together almost on their own.

[Lerice]

When writing I think it's important to write about something that is meaningful to you and your life. If you can write about something you know you will put more heart into it making your story a for sure page turner.

[MandySims]

I try to think about what I think I would like to see in theaters or read to myself or my child. I try to think pure magic and ask myself what would be awesome and beautiful visually (for sketches). I'll ask myself if it's cheesy or corny and if the answer is yes, then I just try to make it better, lol. I try to make my stories appeal to children as well as adults.

[KBrown]

I do writing prompts. It helps inspire me whether I need help with a plot or a character. I have a writing journal and everyday I do at least two prompts. I normally just come up with them off the top of my head. Here are some prompt examples I have had luck with.

1. Go through your music and write down the ones with interesting titles. I took five of these and formed a poem but one could easily inspire a story by itself.

2. Describe five objects fom the perspective of a blind person.

3. Genre flip: write one paragraph and then switch to a a different genre. You can keep doing this and may even find out you enjoy writing a way you have never written before.

[MaryJones]

I do write whle i am lonely. I get ideas when i am alone. I start with a simple one. Later it takes me to good story.

[adria_charles]

I like to use my emotions. Sometimes if I am really emotional over a situation I will come up with a scenario in my head using another character as a way to describe how I am feeling.

I must say as well that Pinterest has some super neat writing prompts that I have never actually tried using, but have read through them and may end up using some one of these days.

[aliceprice]

Mull. Go to the grocery store and mull. Go to the park and mull. Go to the beach and mull. Mull over everything, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. It is the small things that great stories are made of. Just look at Bilbo

[Bob Richley]

I wrote my stories for a single mom. I made the characters the age of her children. Since the kids had no father in their life, I made the dad a central character. I pulled from actual events in my childhood. For example my mom actually did catch a bird while fishing, so I had my mom character catch a bird.

[Alexzander23]

When I need inspiration for stories, I have a couple things that come to mind. I can usually find a unique starter idea from the entries that i keep in my dream journal. Recording your dreams is a good way of creating a little black book of crazy, other-worldly inspiration. Also, recording your dreams makes it easier for you to remember your dreams; which in turn allows you to record more and have more information to work with. Another thing I can think of is trying to remember those funny "what if" thoughts you have with your friends when you may have been less than sober lol. take those and stretch them to there extremes. Take it a step further by shifting the perspective of the story from one character to an inanimate object. You'd be surprised what you could come up with

[Kourtney Bradley]

I have wondered this so much, and have actually sat down several different times with expectations for it to all just come out and fly to paper. But it just doesn't work that way for me. Sometimes I will have really good ideas, but then realize that I may not be able to engourge an entire book around that one thought. So maybe short stories or novellas would be a better idea for me.

[adria_charles]

I have wondered this so much, and have actually sat down several different times with expectations for it to all just come out and fly to paper. But it just doesn't work that way for me. Sometimes I will have really good ideas, but then realize that I may not be able to engourge an entire book around that one thought. So maybe short stories or novellas would be a better idea for me.

I am the exact same way! I will have a thought that I think is fabulous but then question how I could possibly turn that into an entire novel! The only problem is I am a bit impatient so I am sure I COULD come up with an entire book, but when I get stuck it's hard for me to just give it time to see if anything else will come along. Short stories or novellas are probably also going to be what I stick to, but maybe one day I will see if I can get a story to become a complete book. I am sure it's possible! Just can't give up!

[Esther137]

A lot of ideas I have come from dreams that I have. I keep a dream journal and write down any dream I have even if I can only remember parts of it. That would be my main way of getting ideas but if I'm out and an idea pops into my head from something I see or hear, I will write it down in notes on my phone. In my view, I don't come up with ideas by myself, the just come into my head and I go with them and see if they lead to me writing a short story or more.

[flogan14]

Ideas for writing can come from everywhere. Sometimes ideas just come to me, sometimes I feel certain ideas are God-inspired, coming to me from seemingly out of nowhere. But one technique that I like to give me ideas is listening to music, and trying to create a short story or even a novel idea from a song. And if I'm working on a novel I like to come up with the novel's soundtrack to help inspire me as well. Does anyone else do that?