Where does your inspiration come from?

[serria]

I know this is a broad question, but what is your experience of deciding to write something? Whether it's just a little plot bunny that you spend an hour toying with using a Wordpad document, or a novel that you start charting. Do you think there's a pattern in what "inspires" you to write? Where does it tend to come from?

If I were to divide my inspiration sources, I'd say they went something like this. A tiny portion might come from real people. Something someone said, or the way someone I knew acted, or the way two people acted around each other might inspire a story in my head (though I wouldn't say any of my characters have ever been total replications of real people). A good chunk of inspiration comes from my own experiences, usually while I'm having them. I could be hang gliding or something nuts like that, and while I was doing it I'd start working a story in my head. A lot comes from my study of history (being as my genre of choice is fantasy/historical) - learning about some kind of ancient system of society, or even the little things, like how people cooked or what games they played, make me want to write something. Then, I have to admit, a lot of inspiration comes from existing media. I don't mean writing fanfiction or anything, but when I read, watch or play something with a lush fictional world, and I get plot ideas in my head that are never actually realized in the real story, I like to tinker with them until they become unique. That's especially easy with really open world video games, like Skyrim, where a lot of the game is just wandering around the detailed map.

How about you guys? I know a lot of people who are inspired by social issues, family or work experiences, their friends, and so on. What gives you that rush that makes you want to start something new?

Comments

[inkdust]

I honestly don't know where my ideas come from, generally. I just suddenly notice something in my head, which is usually a piece of a plot, character, setting, whatever. I imagine many of them must come from my surroundings, but I think there's usually a disconnect significant enough that I can't identify the source. For smaller details within a story, I've gotten ideas from things I've seen or heard, or if I'm trying to work out worldbuilding questions, but the story ideas themselves seem to go through a lot of brain processing that masks anything that might have directly inspired them. I can identify certain jumping-off points, but they're usually just thoughts I have - like one character definitely originated from suddenly thinking of a particular name...but again, I was standing in my bathroom and my brain just suddenly spat out the name, then envisioned who it belonged to. Maybe I should try paying more attention to my thought processes as I encounter things in the real world.

[alexseanchai]

Usually my ideas are fanficcy in nature, so they come from flaws or what-ifs in existing canon. Substitute 'world' for 'canon' and you see the origins of most of my not-fanficcy ideas.

[serria]

I haven't written a fanfic in a little while, but I used to write a lot. For one series in particular, most of my story ideas came from either plot holes, "time jump" periods within the storyline, or what-ifs that play with alternate possible scenarios. I can definitely relate! Of course, there were fanfics that just wanted to explore a particular character, or relationship between characters, which are also fun. But the ones that sort of fill in the canon story were always my favorite to write.

[ayumidah]

Various things. TV shows I watch, things I experience, random whatever I think about. I had one idea on the 4th for a story about someone who uses holidays or local events where people are regularly out of the house to go thieving, and then a couple of hours later while at fireworks, I received a notice on my phone that a nearby business had possibly been broken into and the police were investigating. So... you know, ideas can come from anywhere or anything from me, and slowly build into an actual plot with time and thinking.

[splinteredstar]

Well, with fanfiction, often as not it's looking at the story, and wondering what's going on elsewhere. Main characters are great and all, but what's (random side character) doing over there? Side views that wouldn't fit into the main narrative, but I want to see anyway. Sometimes it's what-ifs of the canon, or time skips, or bullshitting with my best friend and suddenly realizing "....oh hey that would be interesting actually."

Original stories are harder to pin down sometimes. Often as not it's being bored, having a notebook, and flinging words at it until I come up with something interesting. One of my oldest ideas came about because I was doodling in class (I am the best student), decided that my doodles looked like a throne covered in spider webs, and proceeded to try and figure out whose throne it was. Sometimes it's inspired by other media - old myths, urban legends, that sort of thing; once I had a story just start spinning in my head and only realized three weeks later that a fanfiction I'd recently read had collided in my brain with a manga that I'd just finished reading.

Inspiration is a funny thing, sometimes.

[sarillia]

My ideas are mostly from other media. And a sense of exploration. I come at writing with this feeling of discovery. Even when I have things plotted out, there are things that surprise me when it comes time to actually write. So I take things that intrigue me from other pieces of media and I start asking questions that I feel like it would be fun to come up with some answers for. One of the stories I wrote started with me asking "is it possible for a society that practices human sacrifice to be sympathetic?" Another one started from me wanting to explore the idea of a Chosen One who ended up being rejected and how my character would react to that. Another time I was reading about psychopomps (guides to the underworld) and I asked myself what would happen if the one who was supposed to lead the soul to their final resting place decided they didn't like that person. My current project is looking at different attitudes toward killing and what makes one killing an evil murder and another one acceptable or even good.

I don't wait for ideas to come to me the way some people do. Sometimes they do find me on their own, but usually I'm actively trying to come up with ideas. I hoard ideas. I just like having them and looking at how many I have and enjoying dreaming about them.

Some people might think that I'm one of the people you mentioned who is inspired by social issues since I talk about representation a lot, but I don't often start out with those things in mind. I just start with different assumptions than the average person. In our society, the default person is a white straight man. My default main character is a queer woman who may be of any race. The plot doesn't come from that. That's just who she happens to be. I don't assume that there is a negligible percentage of disabled people and queer people and whatever other group isn't represented often. I look around me and see that these people exist so whenever a new character shows up in my planning, I go "okay, what if this person limps?" I don't assume that women will be subservient to men because there's a lower level of technology and it's therefore "realistic". There are lots of little assumptions that people make without even realizing that I try to acknowledge and exorcise.

[caecilia]

A lot of times - dreams. But I mix it up with real experiences, thoughts that just come to mind as I'm writing, something I'm reading, something somebody says that I disagree with. I guess I like trying to change people's minds about things, which is where that last one comes in.