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.