It's a Tuesday morning and I'm sitting here wondering how all of you are doing while thumping my brain on what to write about. Then I grinned. A-ha! So, I pose this question to you: where do your story ideas come from?
Story ideas can come from a myriad of places: music, movies, commercials, conversation, school, work, books, articles...get my point? One of my novels, The Chronicles of Nuclear Fist: Darksoul was inspired from my eight year old son. He wanted to create a superhero and print it from the computer. After finding a website that did this, I decided to make myself one. After I printed out my creation, I looked at it, studied it, thought about it...hmm, this has potential. Several days later the first page popped into my head, and two days later I had five chapters written.
A new trilogy I am working on, Sons of the Trident, came to me with a brief idea, but there were details I needed flushed out. What did I do? Easy, I collaborated with my trusty brainstorming partner, my wife. If you have someone who you trust, use them to bounce off ideas. Their input may amaze you. There were times I wanted to brainstorm with my wife, but instead I ended up talking out loud, answered my own question, and left satisfied. She just smiled.
Lyrics from songs, dialogue from movies and commercials, or words picked up in conversation could serve as a great palate of ideas for stories. Look at the news or the headlines on the web. There are plenty of concepts you can capitalize on. Another idea is to take a known event or part of history and add a twist. I read a book where the author took the British military history dealing with India during the Napoleonic era and replaced main players with fantasy characters. He had elves and dwarves dressed in Napoleonic attire toting muskets. Neat, huh?
So, keep a micro-recorder or a pad of paper with you at all times and be prepared to jot down notes on your creative thinking. And from some of these author sites or writing groups you hang with, there is bound to be someone you can exchange ideas with. You may be surprised with what you discover.
Take care, Nick
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3 comments:
Okay, not answering your question, since all I can say is that they come to me. Instead, let me offer the following.
"Where do you get your ideas?"
After being asked this many times at SF/Fantasy cons, J. Michael Straczynski* came up with the perfect answer,
"I buy them by the case from some place in Jersey,"
* So who on earth is Straczynski anyway?
JMS is the scriptwriter for "Changeling", directed by Clint Eastwood & starring Angelina Jolie. Before that, Joe created & wrote most of the scripts for the five year SF novel for TV, called "Babylon 5". Most recently, he provided the story for "Thor" on which the screenplay was based.
I wish I knew where that "idea company" was in New Jersey.
Enjoyed the post. Ideas are indeed all around us.
Good post, Nick. You're right. One of my stories came from staring at a gazing ball when I was on a walk.
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