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

[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.

[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.