Inspiration, Ideas and Writers Block

[PancaKe]

Where do you get yours from?


Im studying a course called Writing Fiction (best course ever just in case you wanted to know) and we were talking about the best ways to come up with ideas and get inspiration.

My tutor described to us in great detail ways to encourage these ideas, such as sitting down with a glass of wine in a comfy chair, or take a hot bath and just let your thoughts flow, etc.

So I tried lying down in bed instead and getting comfy, walking around my boyfriends house looking in old cupboards, and staring at the blank page with the flashing cursor ready to type.

Just so you know, none of those worked. I found that when I started reading again, thats when I started writing again. Thats when I started having all these ideas come to me.

And so yeah.. Thats how I overcame my writers block.
What bout everyone else?

[classy_cat18]

In my opinion, a lot of fiction (especially fanfiction) stems from a "What if?" question. The story is a development of the answer to that question.

[PancaKe]

Augh! So simple! Haha if only I'd thought to stem from that question for my first assignment

[classy_cat18]

Augh! So simple! Haha if only I'd thought to stem from that question for my first assignment

Um...I hope that wasn't sarcasm. I have a hard time finding a good, original answer to that question.

[Gavin Luper]

In my opinion, I do think that the posing of a simple "what if?" question, and then following it through in a piece sounds straightforward and yet brilliant.

I seriously think I'm going to try this out, maybe with LTL. Yay!

[PancaKe]

No! Shonta it wasn't sarcasm!!

I felt like an idiot when i read that because it is such a simple way of thinking up ideas. :]
There I was climbing in and out of wardrobes looking for mysterious things to inspire me, when i could've just said what if.

Although... finding a situation to ask what if would probably stump me if I had writers block. Kekeke

[Gavin Luper]

No! Shonta it wasn't sarcasm!!

I felt like an idiot when i read that because it is such a simple way of thinking up ideas. :]
There I was climbing in and out of wardrobes looking for mysterious things to inspire me, when i could've just said what if.

Although... finding a situation to ask what if would probably stump me if I had writers block. Kekeke

Bahahaha.

"What if ..."





















*blank page stretching for eternity*

[mr_pikachu]

What if all the plants on earth suddenly vanished? What would all the poor vegans do?

*glances around*

*eats cheeseburger for breakfast*

[Dark Sage]

Brainstorming.

I write Yu-Gi-Oh fiction. A lot of ideas come out of me when I go around the net, looking at websites where there's information on the cards and the anime. I look at these hundreds of cards, and eventually, an idea pops up.

I have another way of getting ideas: I keep a logbook. Every time I think of something interesting, I write it down. I've gotten more than one good idea like this. Big ideas often come out of small ideas. Did you know that the Harry Potter books came out of notes that J.K. Rowling wrote down on napkins while she was drinking (and often drunk) in British coffee houses? Never overlook a small idea, because it can turn into something big.

[Chris 2.1]

Umm well my two upcoming fics revolved around myself posing questions. I do it a lot in bed at night; I just think.

What if I was in Hoenn? Spiders are scary enough in the Uk and they're the size of a small coin. Would the sight of a mere spinarak drive me crazy? I think it would. What about a creature weilding fire, lightening, ice?? Or the idea of people fighting with these wild animals.

That stemmed the iea to write Telepathic, Beautiful Creature; it's in the process of being written and it's about a girl who finds herself in a world where Pokemon exist. I just thought it would be really amazing to view the pokemon world so differently.

My upcoming contest fic is also centered about that; mainly, because contest fics are rare, and secondly, it's about someone who is undertaking a quest for all the wrong reasons. His heart does not lie in what he does, and that seemed like a cool concept. I guss if you just always think of what hasn't been done, or how the inconcievable could possibly work, you're onto a winner.

[PancaKe]

Did you know that the Harry Potter books came out of notes that J.K. Rowling wrote down on napkins while she was drinking (and often drunk) in British coffee houses? .

How does one get drunk in a coffee house?

[Dark Sage]

In Great Britain, there's not much difference between "pub" and "coffee house".

[PancaKe]

That makes a lot of sense now! Cos I work at Gloria Jeans Coffee house, and I was so baffled as to why Gloria Jeans was suddenly selling alcoholic beverages

[Dark Sage]

Rowling frequented a lot of actual pubs as well. By the time Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was accepted for publication, her addiction had cost her almost everything. The fact of the matter is, she is the likely the most successful - and luckiest - recovering alchoholic who ever lived.

[Goodnight Seadra]

I hear many people get their ideas in the craziest ways...XD;

For me, most of the times from either reading a book or fanfiction. However, the latest story I'm thinking is actually inspired the movie trailer of "Eagle Eye." XD;

Hm, I guess I should start brainstorming, but at the moment I'm sick. :X Would have to do it soon though because I'm planning to write that story for National Novel Writing Month.

[mr_pikachu]

Hm, I guess I should start brainstorming, but at the moment I'm sick. :X Would have to do it soon though because I'm planning to write that story for National Novel Writing Month.

Ooh, you're doing NaNoWriMo? I wish you the best of luck. I wrote a book for a class project last year... spent more than three months on it and it still almost killed me. I'm not sure I could shorten my time to one month, but if you've got the guts to try, more power to you!

As for me, I get my ideas from... well, pretty much anywhere. I have an idea right now that diverged wildly from Angelic Layer. It no longer remotely resembles that series, and it'll probably never go anywhere - frankly, this particular idea would be much better in the medium of anime/manga - but it's still fun to think about.

Other ideas come from TV shows, movies, books, book summaries, research articles, dreams, nightmares, images I see hidden in the bathroom tiles (seriously)... anything at all. It's weird, but it works. Don't be afraid to let your mind go on a wild tangent sometimes. That's how some of my best ideas have developed.

...Someday I hope to get published and prove that "my best" actually means something.

[mistysakura]

Good luck for NaNoWriMo, Goodnight Seadra Let us know how it goes.

We got tons of random exercises in creative writing last semester, but one thing that sticks out is this: what does each character want most, and why can't they get it? It's a good aproach for plot development in short stories, not sure how well it'll work with longer stuff.

[Chris 2.1]

In Great Britain, there's not much difference between "pub" and "coffee house".

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. People don't get tanked up on coffee houses over here, trust me.

[PancaKe]

Good luck for NaNoWriMo, Goodnight Seadra Let us know how it goes.

We got tons of random exercises in creative writing last semester, but one thing that sticks out is this: what does each character want most, and why can't they get it? It's a good aproach for plot development in short stories, not sure how well it'll work with longer stuff.

Yeah. I think thats real good for also getting to know your characters. I hate trying to write from someone I don't know all to well.