How do people get ideas for books/stories?

Question

I'm not sure if this is the right category in which to ask this, but I really need to know how to get ideas for a story or a novel. I've tried to find prompts on the Internet, but they all stink. I'd just like to know a good premise for a story.

Answer 1

Dreams make an excellent premise for a good story, but I think the best way to create a story is to stare at a wall until you are able to amuse yourself with your own thoughts. Another thing to do is create a title and go from there. You can make it really random. I wrote a great short story challenging the premise that the world is basically good, by coming up with the title, "It was raining and the devil was telling lies." I thought of that title after my radio alarm woke me up one morning in the middle of a thunderstorm with the words, "the devil lies." You can gain inspiration from anywhere, but it has to be from your own experiences to be original. Good luck.

Answer 2

You can take any wise saying and develop a plot to illustrate it. Take an ancient myth and convert it to modern setting. The best stories begin with characters deeply understood or imagined, in a setting you know well. The easiest plot is a protagonist (hero or anti-hero) in conflict with an antagonist (human or natural) in a situation which forces them together. Resolution comes through either, or both, being changed by the conflict. Plot proceeds preferably through reported cameo actions which reflect the course of the conflict, and the movement of the character who changes. By natural steps - (love/disappointment. Disillusion. Rejection. Loathing). Psychology informs the process, but keep navel-gazing and superfluous decoration to a minimum. Only report what needs reporting. This can include the weather and suchlike to inform the mood. Establish a "voice" and viewpoint for the story-teller, and stick to it - although you can use different ones to report different views - life isn't monotheistic! In all this there has to be something you really want to explore, something to say. It need not be a blockbuster epic. Look at the people around you, or on the bus. Both character and thought are reflected in posture and gesture. Universalities lie in particularities, and apparently simple things with which people can identify. If nothing else, writing, like drawing, is a way to discover the world. Good luck

Answer 3

This is the perfect forum for your question. What kind of story do you want to write? Fiction, or non-fiction? Historical or contemporary? Sci-fi or fantasy?
Think about where you would like to direct your story: non-fiction gives you a ready made background, and historical and contemporary fiction also uses a ready made background. Fantasy and sci-fi call for tremendous imagination, as you have to create a whole new world. But the characters will still have human traits, so in a way, the people in your imaginary world are the easier part of the equation.
Where to get ideas? They are all around you. Writers eavesdrop shamelessly. I love listening to people sitting behind me on a plane, or a bus. They talk about the most amazing things, and provide all sorts of plot material. Yahoo's family relationships page is full of stuff that could provide the basis for a story. They create the problem, and you solve it! Then when you revise and rewrite your work, you change it so no one can recognize that it's really them you are talking about. But the main thing is to get your story roughed out. Then you can begin to work on it. Knowing how it ends helps you to plant little details throughout the story, that seem to mislead the reader, but turn out to be valid with the conclusion.
Good luck!

Answer 4

I just start writing and see what happens. I get a first sentence down, and keep building on it. Almost every time I write, I have no preconceived notion of what the story will be about, or even how long it is. Just try writing down one line that's suggestive, that sounds cool. You might be surprised where you end up! I've read stories that adhered too strictly to a story-line. I could tell because there were few surprises, like watching a movie, knowing how it will end. If YOU don't know what will happen next, chances are, neither will the reader.
Good luck and if none of our ideas strike your fancy, try this one...

A renegade rooster steals all the farmers hens, and builds the greatest army the world has ever seen!

Answer 5

Ideas for stories often stem from characters. Begin with a character, and really, really get to know them. Give yourself some time to brainstorm:

- What is their most cherished dream?
-- and will it ever come true for them?
-- and does anyone support or oppose that dream?
- What is their goal in life?
-- and are they pursuing it?
-- and is anyone helping or hindering that pursuit?
- Who do they love?
-- and why?
- Who loves them?
-- and why?
- Who do they hate?
-- and why?
- Who hates them?
-- and why?
... and so on.

If you ask the questions above, and keep asking, like a five year old, "but why?", you'll soon have pages and pages of potential story ideas.

Ideas for fiction come from characters, and conflict. In other words, put two people in a room. Each wants something the other one has, or each wants something the other doesn't want them to have. Or they both want the same thing. And so on.

I recently created a non-commercial site in the hopes of generatign these kinds of ideas... for a thousand different stories can come from the same idea. http://fictionseeds.com

Answer 6

Most of my ideas, come "off the top of my head," others, are based on something I've seen, heard or experienced. I always keep a "small notebook" with me. "My Idea Book."

Some ideas come from dreams, or, out of my warped mind!

Observer your daily life, make notes and write.

Several times a years, Barnes and Noble offers free writing courses. A few months ago that had one writing on novels and mysteries.

http://university.barnesandnoble.com/

Answer 7

Write about a guy looking for a premise for his novel. It worked in that movie Adaptation. Charlie Kaufman wrote about his writer's block and turned it into a film.

Answer 8

They ask themselves questions such as {what if?} If your second cousin, once removed, was married and coming on to you, what would you do? How far would you let it go?
If your neighbor inherited a large sum of money and hired you to tend to his swimming pool, would you steal from him?
If you suspected a close friend of commiting a serious crime would you go to the authorities???/
If you found out that one of your parents was cheating on the other, what would you do?
If you found yourself alone time and again with the mate of a close friend how might the arrangement play out?

Answer 9

A good resource for dealing with these types of issues is Stephen King's "On Writing." Who better to get tips from than one of our generation's most prolific authors.

Answer 10

Look,
if your a 'naturally Gifted Writing' you wouldn't cheat and ask people what to write about, or search the internet..
it would 'Naturally' come to your head, with out thinking...like my self :)

Yours sinciarly...