How to come up with your own creative story ideas?

Answer 1

I find that boredom causes the mind to work more creatively rather than when it is more active. Boredom allows the mind to wonder, creating new scenarios and plot ideas that could then be further developed into a story/ novel.
For example, whenever I try to sleep, my mind is never really at rest as this is the time that I come up with most of my ideas for a story plot/ character.
Also, reading other stories will boost your inspiration levels :) The app, Episode, allows writers to write and direct their stories, therefore providing interested readers with a vast range of a different variety of stories. This app has helped me massively in terms of inspiration.
Good luck :)

Answer 2

Music is my biggest inspiration and the biggest contributor I have. It's great way to help put you in the mood and convey certain thoughts and emotions. It just helps me writing more so then any other medium. I also read a lot especially people who have written a book/s that are similar to the idea I have in my head. Streaming television shows and movies I like are also a big help, especially with characterization, monologues, and to help illustrate the reception to the material the mass audience demonstrates at the time. All in all, use everything as source material especially living in this internet world is great to make great stories happen. I just wish I had more time with writing.

Another secret I use if you believe in that type of thing is The Muse. "The Muses were the nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts (including music) and literature. A shrine to the Muses was called in Latin a museum. An artist or poet about to begin work would call on his particular Muse to inspire him, and a poem itself might begin with such a call; thus, Homer's Odyssey begins, "Sing to me of the man, Muse" (that is, of Odysseus). Today a muse may be one's special creative spirit, but some artists and writers have also chosen living human beings to serve as their muses." I pretty much only write now when the Muse is upon me, all other writing seems uninspired, pointless, and a waste of my time. But she is shifty and comes only when she/they feel like it. And so it's dry up into that point but when she's back I drop whatever I am doing and transcribe like my life depends on it.

Answer 3

here are some ways to generate your own creative story ideas

finding your own names is a great idea. you can get all sorts of ideas from just names alone. start keeping a name list. go to baby names sites or look at imdb at your fave movies or tv shows. look not just at cast member names but the names of the crew as well. (also look at last names.) you can always look up a names meaning. keep a list of names you like and names you don't like. look up mythological names. names from other countries, look at your family names, get your yearbook out and look at names of people you went to school with. get out the phonebook and look at names there. like i said before you never know when or where inspiration will strike.

writers read, read, and read some more, read more books, read more magazines, read the graffiti on the walls. reading will also help you to develop your writing voice. read in the genres you like and then read outside of your genre. also make sure to read lots of non fiction. this will help when you have to reseach.

practice your writing in the following ways

find online writing prompts and follow them

read an article online about whatever floats your boat. then rewrite the article YOUR way.

keep a dream journal. every time you wake up from a dream or a nightmare write it down immediately. over time you will be able to remember more details. plus you never know when or where inspiration will strike

keep a daily journal. every day before you go to sleep write down in your journal everything that you did, that you experienced, that you thought about, that you saw. just everything. this will help you practice your writing, it will give you a chance to try out new vocabulary, and increase your observation skills. observe people more when you are out and about. when you see someone try to think what their story is. where they were before they crossed your path, where they are going next. again you never know when or where inspiration will strike.

when you have an argument or something write it down from your perspective. then take some time and write it from the other persons perspective. if more then two people were there try writing from each persons perspective

make a list of your favorite words. use a thesaurus to find similar words. learn new vocabulary. when practice writing try out the new words. try them out in conversations with people as well.

pick up a book and open to a random page. read the top sentence. then use that sentence to start writing. just continue on from that one sentence. you can do this with a book, magazine, newspaper, heck you could even turn on the radio or tv and use the first thing you hear.

look at other countries on a globe or a map. maybe think of places you would like to go or places you have already been if you were lucky enough to travel. look at place names. if you find something you are interested in go to the library and find out about it. yes you can use the internet but also try the library. the librarians have degrees and can help you locate more information and sometimes faster then you can find it yourself. read up on history that interests you. local legends, mythology or anything.


listen to music. if you need new music or a new genre try lastfm. they have great suggestions. listen to movie soundtracks or video game music or whatever. you never know what will inspire you.

go back to a newspaper and look at the classified section, the help wanted, lost and found, or even headlines. make a story from that. maybe the obituaries as well. like with the obits, maybe someone who looks a lot like the person who died shows up at the funeral. make a story out of that. or someone shows up who claims to be a long lost cousin or daughter or whatever. how about a classified someone says they found a dog or cat and the owner comes to claim said pet. week later the pet is found by same person again. they keep meeting. why does the pet keep going back. someone is renting a house. a person driving by stops to investigate because since they were a child they kept having dreams about this house. Why?

go to any room in your house or apartment. close your eyes and spin around three times. then stop and open your eyes.. the first three things you see write a story about that.

rip some paper into some strips. make some piles or put them into bowls or hats. in each section write down different things. for example in one pile write down some verbs in another pile write down some nouns. write down some common fears. the possibilities are endless. then pick one paper from each pile and write your story.

do not forget to play the what if game. what would happen if..........

go to listverse and look at some of their lists. you could get inspired there.

look up some pictures for inspiration. look at sunrises or sunsets or forests or boats or cats or whatever you like.

start doing research on something. if you always wondered how they make something look it up. if you like a certain time period then start researching it. there are so many ways to get inspired from that

go sit in a dark room or closet and see what your mind comes up with

go listen to a thunderstorm or waves on a beach. ( you can find both on youtube.com) see what comes to mind.

find another creative way to get inspired. for example i know one author i love likes to dress dolls in the fashions of the time period she is writing about. i know someone who draws her characters, i know someone who makes wire people and animals. i know someone who takes photos to help inspire him, i know someone who knits while making a plot. i know someone who cooks to get inspiration. i know someone who paints. someone who does diy. there are no limits find something you like to do

also keep some paper and a pen or a recording device with you at all times cause you never know when inspiration will strike and you will want to have a way to remember.

Answer 4

I let my subconscious do 75% of the work. I feed my brain by watching movies, reading books, observing people, going down the rabbit hole online and studying everything that catches my interest from Boudica to South American mane wolves etc. If I need to write something within a narrow topic, then I'll of course research that as much as possible.

My subconscious then takes all that information and runs with it, and the story or character comes to me when I'm doing something fairly mindless, like taking a shower, walking the dog, or weeding the garden. After that it's up to my conscious brain to tie up any loose ends - usually I need to work on the plot.

Sometimes I can pinpoint where the idea came from, like my latest novel combines a recurring nightmare, a documentary and a Google image search, but most of the time, I can't.

There are other methods to come up with ideas, though, you can use an online plot generator, ask yourself "what if" (I think Stephen King suggests this one), read the newspaper and combine articles, and more if you look it up online.

Answer 5

Unplug

While you get ideas from reading in widely divergent fields, truly creative ideas show up when you're spending time doing nothing, like walking or running. You need time to think and even become bored, if you expect to come up with something new.

Endlessly plugging into other's stories just leaves your mind busy with their stories, not yours.

Answer 6

You need to feed your muse with great stories, lots of news from various areas, and other art such as murals and music. Eventually, two ideas will collide in your head and form an idea that nobody has ever thought of before.

Answer 7

Sometimes my stories begin with something as simple as a time or a place... I'll read something about Greenland or New Guinea, King Philip's War or Welsh immigrants in Argentina and an idea will come to me. Sometimes my stories come from cherry picking ideas from other stories and books I've read and combining some elements from several different sources. Sometimes an idea will come to me in a dream. Other times they might materialise out of thin air. The more you read, the greater the amount of ideas you'll have access to as you'll have a wide variety of plots, characters, settings, themes and conflicts available to you, not to mention a greater appreciation for and a better understanding of style, technique and form.

Answer 8

I watch the news, and look at websites for ideas.

Answer 9

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