B&A: Want to help out everyone who's begging us for plots?

Question

Rather than giving away our ideas, why not help them come up with their own?

So, people of B&A, how do you think up a story idea? What is your muse, your inspiration? What do you do to come up with and mold that plot into perfection?

Answer 1

I always answer those type of questions with this advice:



You will never be able to finish an entire novel if you cant even spend the time to brainstorm your own plot. The best advice I can give you is create a character and follow them around and see what kind of trouble they can get into. Ask yourself some questions:

-what does my character want?

-what is my character going to do to get it?

-who is going to try and stop my character and what are they going to do?

-what does my character do to over the obstacles?



Boom. instant basic plot.



Now decide what kind of story it is. If it's fantasy choose if you want them to be magical or a on a quest, create the world, and races of indigenous people/mythological beings. Choose a time period. past, present, or future.



If it's a mystery choose 1 to 3 people to cast suspicion on. decide what clues will be needed to point to the correct culprit. How does the character put them all together?



Romance: probably the easiest formula out there. Decide who is going to fall in love with whom and make it hard. OR just add romance to your novel by the same method.



historical fiction is a bit harder and will require some research on your part. Now when i say research, i don;t mean wikipedia. Go to the library or bookstore and look in the history/reference sections and decide on one or two books bout that time period and read them. A timeline of significant events would be helpful too for story planning.



ABOVE ALL: read, read, read what others have written to learn how to write yourself.



edit: adding to gerald and steve. I also keep an idea notebook. and i realize i didnt completely answer your question: my inspiration is unexplainable. they really do just sort of fall into my head. I rarely consciously sit and brainstorm for an ENTIRE idea.

Answer 2

I have been a writer for a while, but unfortunately do not know what NaNoWriMo is. Everyone is talking about it on Y!A, and it seems so fun and exciting! BQ: I would be interested in hearing your summary of your story! I am definitely not the type of girl who goes around and steals people's ideas! BQ1: Pencil. But I always have to type on the computer because I press too hard on my pencil and it hurts my hand. BQ2: Natural. I like having the feeling of being natural. Though my natural hair is not anything good, I hate that when I straighten my hair, it gets all thin and ratty. BQ3: I do not watch T.V. anymore since school started. I would rather be on here or typing up my story that I have been writing for years. (Multiple rough drafts). But when I did, Avatar: The Last Airbender!! BQ4: Hi, you have reached Addison's phone. I am sorry I missed your call and there is a chance I won't get back to you, but I will try the best I can! Bye! - WritingLikeAlways:)

Answer 3

I don't know how many times I tell people to think of their own plots or look around them to get inspiration, but it doesn't work. There will ALWAYS be someone asking for plots. What's great is when they say they wanna be a writer or they have a title, but no plot. It's like, if you have one, you can't not have the other. They kinda go hand in hand.



I just tell them to look around them. See the people around them? Think a story for them. Even if it's just a short story they write, they wrote something. Use music as inspiration. Anything!

Answer 4

If they really want/need a story idea for something, this is my process that I will lend them:



1) Create a main character. Put together their personality and appearance. Have fun with it.

2) Pick a random object, like a key. Make it magical.

3) Ask myself, "What would my character do with this magical object? Would there be other magical objects like it?"

4) Get writing.



That ought to help those guys out a little bit. It seems very contrived, but I always expand on it, whether intentional or not, so that it becomes a story all its own instead of a repeat of something someone else already wrote. Most of the time, I just wait for the inspiration to strike me. I might be watching a movie or daydreaming at night or looking at a picture when it happens. The best ideas occur as strikes to the back of the head by the Inspiration Stick, not forced-out blobs of goo.

Answer 5

The most random things form huge plots in my mind.

One of my story plots came from rising home on the bus and looking at the woods. And then BAM, idea comes into my mind.

The most random things trigger ideas. Sometimes I get the characters instead, so I build a story around them.



I don't listen or watch things for inspiration, I listen to songs after I write the idea and characters to see what songs fit those people.

Answer 6

I find reading lots of books, listening to music, and looking at random pictures helpful. I sometimes get really (and I mean REALLY) weird dreams, and I'll throw that into the story too! Also, in my English class we get a list of vocabulary words every week, and sometimes we get a really interesting one like "Catch-22" which means a choice you make when both options are equally bad. So I take that vocab word and write!



And have you ever left a movie theater or finished reading a book, and you're like "wow, that really sucked" ?well, keep the things you liked about it (which shouldn't be a lot if it sucked that much) and change all the things you hate about it, to the point that the plot is completely different!



I think this was an EXCELLENT question to post, and I take my hat off to you!

Answer 7

First of all, I don't like to look for ideas. Rather, I simply wait for them to come to me. I get inspiration from anything. It could be, quite simply, a deserted house that I passed on my way to school, or a wilting flower on the side of the road. If I like a book, I might try to take that plot, change the characters, add twists, and change the ending so I keep the theme but make it into my own story. Also, what you might want to do is write down the first twenty words that come to mind and try to form a story revolving around them. Good luck to all!

Answer 8

What Gerald said. I sometimes read over my ideas file and add comments on anything that looks interesting.



The only snag for people who think that asking on B&A will result in someone handing them a perfectly-formed plot (complete with unique and fitting names for all the characters) is that I've been adding to my ideas file for 15 years (and was building it in my head for about 10 years before that). An idea that I got last year (from pointing out a plot hole in someone's book) dovetailed nicely with an idea I got 13 years before that (from a passing reference in someone else's book). That's a long time to be waiting for inspiration if you're not writing other stories in the meantime.

Answer 9

A piece of music that moves me will make me envision some type of story that goes with it, or at least a feeling, and a feeling is a good place to start for me to write. Dreams are also one of the places that my best ideas come from. I find myself walking around in circles in my room, listening to music and thinking, with a notepad open on my desk to stop and jot something down when I need to. But besides that, I've been making up stories for about twenty years, so my brain is trained to form ideas and be inspired by anything. Brainstorming is something that gets better with practice.

Answer 10

I stare at something until i picture a plot...I'm weird like that. For example, my mom was driving me home one day and we passed by a house and I saw a water mark on the wall that looked remarkably like a human figure running. So immediately I tie that with my story and decide to have creatures that move as part of the wall.

I also dream about it and tie that in as well, or I ask my brother. He only reads about thieves so naturally I'm writing about a thief and he comes up with some ideas as well.

Answer 11

For inspiration I watch films or listen to music. I listen to the lyrics, and try to make a story out of them. Then before you know it, whola! A story idea! :) It really does work, and when my writers block got so bad one time, I went roaming the streets in a state of boredom (I was actually walking to the stables I ride at but y'anoo) and every person I saw I wrote down in a notebook and then I had a notebook full of characters and I make up a story for them :) xD

Answer 12

I keep and idea file. I advocate that all writers keep an idea file. We are bombarded by ideas all day long. But, mostly, we ignore them, and they go away. As a writer you must learn to recognize when you are having and idea, pay attention, and WRITE THE IDEA DOWN (yes, I know I'm shouting, but this is the most impotent step).



So, how do you recognize when you are being attacked by an idea? For me I am getting some kind of input--a conversation, something I am reading or watching on TV, sometimes just a stray thought--and I think "...what if?" When I have that response to any input I know I am having an idea and I pay attention. What exactly is this idea? Then I write it down on any piece of paper that is handy (I actually carry a notepad, but have used envelopes, napkins, and whatever else I can grab). Writing it down is important because ideas are as fragile as dreams. When I get home to my computer I open my idea file and add the new idea.



When I finish a project and need to start a new one I do not have to think of an idea. I do not have to ask anyone else for their ideas. I just go to my idea file and brows through it. Eventually one of the ideas will jump up screaming "...ME...ME...PICK ME...." It never fails.



It is never to late to start an idea file. Pay attention and you will have more ideas then you can finish in a lifetime. I hope this helps anyone looking for an idea....

Answer 13

My inspiration comes from everyday events that you may see and then let my imagination run with them. I always think if it starts with something I have personally seen or heard then it is original. So I keep a notebook and jot down anything that seems a little odd or if I hear or read something interesting.

Great question, will be checking back to see what others do.

Answer 14

Well, I have read many, many books in my lifetime, and have found a specific genre that i like, fantasy. I then read several successful fantasy novels, and determine the ones I like best. I then write my stories as similar to theirs, not copying story lines or details, and also creating my own plot, but just involving things that are similar to their plots.

Answer 15

You could could post this question a million times and they would still ask for plot and story ideas. They obviously haven't seen the yahoo search bar which gets these kinds of questions up in about a second.

Answer 16

I know its really weird, but a name. when i came up with the story I've been concentrating all my focus on right now it was all because of the character's name (well, that and what i love to read about). My character's name is Ross and when I came up with the name I instantly knew that I wanted her to have a tough, do-it-myself attitude. then i thought about the genres i loved to read about and watch on tv and thus my whole plot came tumbling out of my head.

Answer 17

Well... I actually kinda feel stupid admitting this, but I usually kinda of...meditate, and convince myself that I'm IN the story. I believe that the story is already there, you just need to uncover it. That main character? She already existed, had a name, before you knew about her. He really has a horrible past, but you need to FIND it, discover it. You'll see, when trying to think of something, what happens next, or what somebody said, that sometime it just clicks into place. Putting yourself in the story helps to find it.

Answer 18

I would willingly give out ideas that don't work for me.





I don't know how I get ideas, they come randomly. Like, I was watching a fake trailer for a Where's Waldo murder movie (don't ask) and I now have a new mystery idea

Answer 19

It's pretty frickin' easy, some people just have zero creativity.



The secret isn't complicated.



Just ask yourself: "What if?"



Think about things you hate about the world and things you love about yourself and what you wish you could change about your community and your point of view on politics or religion...anything.



Seriously.

Answer 20

By watching tv and listening to music. Those are my top ways for inspiration. :}

Answer 21

I say we burn them ^.^



Or alternatively...I have three sources of inspiration.

- Camping. Dunno why. It just works for me.

- Tolkien. You absolute legend.

- 30 Seconds to Mars. Thank you, Jared!



I think people just need to find whatever it is that suits their theme - songs, books, movies...if that makes sense?

Aahhh I'm too tired to write a sensical answer. I think I'll leave you with this smiley face ---> ^.^

Answer 22

that would work!