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- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Hey KeePers!
I’m in a bit of a rut right now and can’t seem to come up with a story idea that totally captivates me. I’ve had a few story ideas that I think are awesome, but my excitement lasts about a week before I realize I’ve lost interest.
I think it would be great to hear how all of you came up with the idea for your current WIP! Maybe it would help me brainstorm. And if you’ve got any other tips on coming up with ideas, please do let me know!
I’ll go first, although it might be a boring story. š I was reading the book of Acts, reached chapter 23, read verse 16, and did a double take. “WAIT A MINUTE WHAT PAUL HAD A SISTER???” Literally had never paid attention to that detail. Then a bunch of questions about Paul’s sister started flowing into my mind – did they have a good relationship, was she older or younger, what did she think about his conversion, what was his relationship with his nephew, why did the nephew care about saving his life… and thusĀ The Apostle’s SisterĀ was born.
@writerlexi1216 @devastate-lasting @daisy-torres @madelyn @mkfairygirl @e-k-seaver @scripter-of-kingdoms @nova21 @gracie-j @not-so-secret-secret-assassin @godlyfantasy12 @lydia-s @abigail-m @ribbonash @issawriter7 @anyone-else@joy-caroline
Okay, so forĀ The House that Didn’t EndĀ I was doing a short story contest with my friends back in October… 2019-ish… where we all gave each other different words we had to use/settings and come up with a story for it. I wrote the short story that would end up becoming THTDE, and got bored halfway through, thus writing a brief three-sentence summary of how the story would ideally end.Fast forward over a year later to a 30 days of posting I did on my author blog. Thirty posts seemed like a lot, so I skimmed through my old writing and stumbled upon THTDE. I immediately re-fell in love with the characters and decided to expand on their journey, coming up with what would turn into a 20k novella.
Right about this time I was figuring out what it would look like to possibly be an indie author and thus decided to test the waters with this book.
(remind me later to tell you about the other books. XD)
The pen is mightier than the sword, but in a duel, I'm taking the sword.
ekseaver.wordpress.com@joy-caroline OOH! Yes! So much fun!
K so my current WIP is Destiny’s Murder, first book in my fantasy series. Actually this idea all started with a single character (well, two actually lol)
Ahem.
I was watching an Authortuber named Savannah J Goins, and she knows so so so much about animals, so she has some mythical creatures in her books that are based off of real animals. So she was doing some animal Q&A videos to help others with their animal characters, and I was like “Aww man it’d be so cool to have an animal character!”
One of the animals she used was a sugar glider, so my brain went to a creature similar to that (this may not be in order lol), and with the little creature came this character.
A curly blonde haired girl, who lived at a circus. I was like “OH MAN I LOVE THIS” But at that time I was currently on a WIP (that is put to the side until further notice *foreshadow at perhaps a future project lol* so I set it to the side, not wanting to get too unfocused on my current project.
So, last year, towards the end (probably after July or sometime within those months after) I realized this current WIP had flopped on me and I wasn’t interested in it anymore. So eventually I decided to take *break* and work on something different.
Sometime after that I was looking at cool names with Pinterest photos (totally suggest that for those trying to come up with a new story idea or names, so much Inspiration, tho some of the pictures are immodest, so discretion advised.) and I found the name Arabella and Gwenyth. So I asked ppl which they liked better for a main character that had popped into my head, and the winner was Arabella.
Thus, Arabella was born. I already had the name November wrote down with some other name ideas I’d discovered to come up with a new idea and knew I wanted to use it sometime so eventually November came about, but I believe I remembered my original circus girl and her pet.
And that was when everything started coming together. (Which the story has changed some obviously) But, the original idea was a girl (Ara) who was in charge of protecting fantasy lands though she didn’t want to, and the first land was a circus world.
And then the story changed into what it is now!!! (And the sugar glider creature became a fennec fox.)
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb@joy-caroline It’d take too long for me to recountĀ 13 Ways so I’ll just give a quick glossary over some short stories… I guess most of my ideas stem from like images I see in my brain or something that I’m reading at the moment. For example, I was reading a manga and about halfway I thought, What if I did something like this too, except not copying because my brain is gonna warp the whole thing to be unrecognizable anyways? So yeah, mental images and other forms of media that I consume.
ForĀ Those Who Were Given Another Yesterday I remember specifically myself wanting to write a story with all nine Dungeons and Dragons moral alignments. Well, at this point I can’t say that the characters match up exactly to their specific alignment, but I’m pretty happy with it so far.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@joy-caroline Oy, that’s a good question. *mind goes blank* How in the worldĀ did I come up with the idea for BAD? Or TMNL? Yeah…those origin stories areĀ pretty boring. Let’s seeeeeeeee…
AH! Here’s an opening for me to talk aboutĀ Daylight, my 9/11 short story.
I actually got the idea from one of my favorite songs, “Sky Is Falling” by Lifehouse. It was written after the events of 9/11 and partly inspired by it…but that’s beside the point. Point is I wanted to write some aesthetic stories based on some of my favorite songs, and SIF was one of the first I thought of.
Of course I wanted to go the 9/11 route, because I feel like there aren’t many stories about that (I may be wrong…) and because I just got this picture in my mind of the sunrise outside a hospital window, casting shadows on the wall. (From the line: “I watch as the daylight crawls/past the shadows hanging on the walls”.) Hence the title, obviously.
From there, I came up with two characters – Sylvie and August – and a plot that could squeeze into 4k words. I’m about halfway done with it now and pretty pleased with how it’s turning out. There’s something about having something tangible that inspired your story, a link to it, stuff like that, you know – mainly since most of my stories literally just came out of the blue or are products of overthinking storylines to the point where I couldn’t even tell you what inspired it in the first place.
@joy-caroline
Well, to be honest, stories kinda come to me.Ā I can’t really force myself to come up with ideas, but I do enjoy finding prompts (on Reedsy: https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/).Ā I also find great ideas when I’m reading;Ā for example, I was readingĀ The ChosenĀ by Taran Matharu and I thought about traveling between worlds and I decided to write a book about a good world where there is a bad version and a good version, if that makes sense.Ā Thus the idea of the ideal vacay island, Camino, and my cast of only eleven characters was born. šĀ I’m sorry I’m not more help, and honestly, I kinda wish I had a better way of making stories, lol.
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@joy-carolineĀ
I do like to talk about how I get my ideas. XDOkay, I’m going to be open here and talk about something that I’ve never talked about with my writing friends before. Most of y’all know about the novel I was writing calledĀ Behind the Blade, Without the Wings. But what you didn’t know is that I got the idea for that novel LAST YEAR, and so not much development has been done to the story. So, I’m pausing writing it and instead, working on my old WIP called The Black Cat.
The idea for The Black Cat (as most of my stories are) started with a character. But actually “The Black Cat” was originally a girl. She was a spy and a side to character to an old story. THEN one school day back in the fall of 2017 when I was bored with schoolwork, I started getting an idea for a spy story. But, I decided I wanted the MC to be a guy, and then I was like “what if this tells the story of Cat’s (the girl black cat) father?? Like how he became ‘The Black Cat’?” And that’s where the story started for my WIP.
I hope you get ideas you’ll love, JC!!!!!!!š And basically, the only tip I have is to ask questions. LOTS and LOTS of questions. š I’m wishing you the best of luck as you search for ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!š You ROCK, girl!!!!!!<33333
"It looks like a fairy world"~Meg from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Fall in love with Jesus- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Awesome! Starting with a unique setting can often be the key to a new story idea.
Wow, I love how you come up with your fantasy characters! I’ll totally have to try looking through Pinterest for inspiration.
Mental images. I’ve heard that one a lot. Interesting!
@gracie-j
Songs can be a great way to spark a story idea you’ll be passionate about. Your 9/11 story sounds super fascinating!
Totally get ya. I have trouble forcing myself to come up with ideas as well. That’s cool you get your ideas while reading. Reading an exciting book can def get the creative wheels turning! You’re a ton of help, thanks for sharing!
Aw, girl, I totally get ya!! I’ve decided to shelve TAS for a while, so I relate. It’s kinda tough to have to put a story aside, but sometimes it’s necessary. Hmm, asking questions. Time to put on mwa detective hat. Thanks, Kat!
@joy-caroline It’s so nice to be able to relate! š
You’re very welcome!!!!! Glad I could help!!!!! <3
"It looks like a fairy world"~Meg from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Fall in love with Jesus- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@joy-caroline For sure! Thank you!! š
A lot of times story ideas just pop into my head or are inspired by something I read or watch. But for the current book I’m outlining, I tried a method Abbie Emmons shared on her YouTube channel where she takes inspiration from a bunch of her favorite stories (it’s not copying) and I really liked it! Here’s the link to the video. š
I get my ideas from weird places. One day when I was twelve or so, I got the idea in my head that the Avengers should each have pet dinosaurs. No idea where that came from. Later, I was looking through the names for the dinosaurs belonging to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I thought “hey, these could work well by themselves, not just as a Marvel fanfic. My dad and I thought up some backstory and worldbuilding, and “The Dino Guard” began.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
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Thanks a bunch!! I’ll definitely be checking that out!
That’s pretty awesome you draw your inspiration from shows! Maybe I should dig deep into a couple of shows I like. š
@joy-caroline
I got the idea for my current WIP from reading about villagers defending their towns in the Medieval time. I though, wow, wouldnāt it be cool if I could do that? So then my charie Ember was born, and now itās a romance, which I have NO IDEA how to write…so weāll see how that goes. XD
i hope you find an awesome idea!! <333
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
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