Novelist's Desk Forum Where do you get your ideas?

I hear this question from new and aspiring writers all the time. The fear is that there is some magic that seperates the creative people from the unimaginative. Please, they seem to beg, tell me there is some procedure I can follow to come up with enough ideas for a book.

Maybe. Robert Heilein famously said that he just went to the classics and filed off the serial numbers. So put, "I steal them." on the list.

There is a book called Plots Unlimited by the guys that used to write Columbo, Murder She Wrote and other TV mysteries. Add, "I have a list."

Dick Francis writes takes things that happened during his career as a jockey and embellished a little. So there's, "I've led an interesting life."

On another site, Novelist's Desk member, Cloister listed the origins of a few of his novels. That made me think that it might be fun to hear from everyone about where they got their favorite ideas.

For me -

My novel Dark Horses came from an idea that occurred to me when my daughter started horseback riding. After a ride, I was helping her untack and clean the horse. We led the horse back to its stall, slid the door closed and fastened the latch. A rush of Deja Vu hit me. The stall reminded me of a jail cell. It was about the same size, the occupant can't let themself out, they have to come out on someone else's schedule, and they have to poop and pee in the stall/cell. The episode got me thinking about how inmates would feel about having horses in the same facility. Before long, I had a few characters and a story formed.

Your turn -

My ideas come from all the movies I've watched and all the books I've read in my life. No, I don't plegerize. All these ideas and scenes that I've witnessed seem to coagulate in the back of my mind and surface when I least expect them.

My book Crimson Dust was inspired by a documentary I watched on the Discovery Channel called Mars Rising, but everything in between, everything after the basic structure wasn't planned. I had no clue as to where the story was going untill chapter thirteen, the chapter before the end chapter.

Of course at times I knew what I was writing but 73% of the book was the first thought that came to my mind, giving my book a pandemonious edge.

There were times when I wrote something I planned and quite literally the story kicked my idea out the window and came up with something completely different. As they say, the book took on a life of its own.

Other than complete instinct when writing a book or forming an idea I do what yoshi has already stated, "What if"? When I sit and actually think of an idea for a book I scrutinize the idea until I can be completely sure of its realism. Sure I wrote about a colony on Mars with all this crazy stuff happening, mutants, parasites, alien organisms, but I didn't shun realism, I created realistic monsters and situations. I looked at Crimson Dust and said "This is possible but improbable." I do seriously doubt theres a gigantic plant that spews bacteria that then seeks out a host to incubate into a parasite that then sucks the marrow from your spine as nourishment is there on Mars, but hey, who knows right?

Coming up with an idea is really very simple for me, just look at things and say, "Whoa, what if that did this and this did that and what if this happened here and that happened there," imagination is key to creating a great plot. Just look at everything disregarding any and all preconceptions and go with it.

I always say, "Complicated things are good, but simple things are better."

Everywhere. Songs on the radio--I'm actually working out the plotline for a paranormal romance inspired by a favorite song, conversations I've evasdropped on, people I know. One of the best ways I've found ideas is to do writing exercises in character development or setting. You can make these up or peruse the contest page to see what is being offered. The novel I have out for publication now is something that grew out of a writing exercise. And the fantasy trilogy I'm doing is the growth of a short story...I know. I can't quite figure out when I should write 'The End'

Sometimes, I like names and I'll create a story just to use a name. Good example is the series of short stories I have being published in an online magazine (The series is "The Four Kingdoms") over the next five months.

So...everything can be inspiration.

N~

I get them from my head. Nothing else. My imagination has been bred and built for the sole purpose of writing..anything, which I fully intend to do. My intentions for my imagination is to get it to people who need the inspiration, or just love to read. New ideas come to me everyday. Sometimes some thing so wacko turns into a masterpiece.

Herotix is a prime example of my growing imagination and innovation, somewhat. I have yet to write more on that book though. :P

But that's how I get them. My head. Nothing else. :D :D

My ideas derive from all sorts of sources, I can't say that I use them based on my own experiences, because I've never been hunted down by an angry husband - I've never been married either.  Though some of my works have been completely based on some aspect of my life, friendship, love etc. But not my horror stories (like "Circumstance")

Sometimes, I'll be talking with a friend, and they'll say something interesting, it could be anything from a word, to an actual sentence. A lot of my stories have begun there, in a simple conversation. Someone mentions their going on a trip, travelling by train - and I wonder, what would happen if someone on that train was carrying a bomb. Or what if the man in the last row hitting on the snack women was hiding a pistol in his green carry-on bag. Those are my Horror stories, the novels I write to scare people, to amuse them, to frighten them.

Where as, my less fictional novels/stories, like "When Molly Smiles" or "I know Exactly what you mean" Started out as a basic idea for an english project.

I think, that asking an author where they get their ideas is obsurd. You can't disect the power of thoughts, words, situations, colours, and pictures - into a "How To" guide for beginners. Ideas just.. Happen.

My ideas tend to come about rather randomly, and very sporadically, much to my fan's chagrin. But I have a pretty funny story regarding one of my better pieces.

I was flipping around on television, and happened to catch the tail-end of Disney's Hercules... Somehow, this inspired me to write something completely unrelated - the tale of a girl locked away on death row for killing her father.

When I finally finished, I was freaking out with laughter.