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@joy-caroline
I have a whole long story for this, but the shorten version is that I needed to move on to a new story but I still really love the characters in it and didn’t want to leave them behind. Plus I had no other story ideas to use at all because I scrapped them all (details is the long story version). But then, as I was thinking about my protagonist from that story, I saw an image of him as a cyborg hunter hunting down robots in the forest (he is no longer a cyborg hunter but a cyborg soldier now). After that, I ditch the plot and setting from the old story of mine and created a whole new one with the same characters. That one little scene just snowballed into a plot, then a series and then an universe (it’s getting kinda of big now that I think about it).
A lot of my stories just happen like this. I explore random ideas and they turned into stories. It’s usually for fun and not for the purpose of creating a story. And I like to recycle, as I call it, old story ideas that no longer work (pieces of plot or creatures or worldbuilding I still like and want to use still) or characters if I love them too much into a new story idea. For example, has a bunch of Finnish characters (the piece of the old idea that I still love) + a superhero idea (the new idea bouncing around for weeks with nameless characters) = Finnish superheroes.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Ah yes, sometimes keeping a lookout for random thoughts can lead to the next story. Recycling ideas sounds great – I will have to try it! Thanks so much for sharing!
@joy-caroline
Story ideas… yeah, I have the same struggle (I seem to have the same writerly struggles as all of yall XD But that’s a good thing too, we’re all writers in this together:)
I got the idea for The Snow Warrior years ago. I was flipping through a costume magazine and spotted one costume in particular that suddenly gained all my attention. I looked for the title of the outfit and it in fact read “Snow Warrior.” And in that second, the whole novel concept just clicked in my brain, and unlike dozens of other novels I’d started, this idea and characters have consumed my pen and keyboard and didn’t release it… so I’ll see it through its duration:)
But while I have a concept and characters and details and subplots and a world and such, I have no plot or main idea. It’s hard to find a main plotline that truly captivates me. And of course, if it doesn’t captivate me, it won’t captivate the reader… so the hunt for at least a decent main plot continues.
I wish I could be of more help to you!- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Ooh, awesome! Catalogs and magazines can yield a ton of inspiration.
Nah, you’re a ton of help! I also feel ya on the main plot thing. The Apostle’s Sister doesn’t *really* have a main plot, it’s just a bunch of terrible events one after the other. XD While the story is obviously about Paul’s sister’s struggle to reconcile with his suffering ministry, I feel like the novel just wanders from one catastrophe to the next. I want to come up with a plot that intertwines all those events and yields a big reveal ?? If I’m making any sense, LOL.
Thanks for sharing!
@joy-caroline
Huh, I’ve never been able to really word my struggle with plots before, but you just did. I mean that is the EXACT problem I have. I have all these scenes and big events and a grasp of the concept, but it just feels like these big boulders of plot points with pieces of string tied from one to the other for the characters to cross to get to the next boulder… you know? But yes, that made perfect sense, and of course!
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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Yess! It’s exactly like that. I’m still working on coming up with an intertwining plot, instead of just the one-thing-leads-to-another. Totally relate.
@joy-caroline,
I get ideas from a ton of different places. I feel like sometimes you have to have kind of an open mindset (and a ready pen): sometimes, if you’re paying attention, ideas will pop into your head from the most random sources that, if you record them right away, might be winners, but if you don’t, will be forgotten. It’s important to not only record, but to first recognize, “Oh, this is a story idea.” They’re often subconscious.
But my current story idea (and many others) were actually inspired by a dream. I dreamt that an abusive father was throwing his son over a cliff with a pool of water at the bottom and I had to jump in and rescue the boy (don’t ask me where I got that from). That was the very beginnings of what is now my WIP. So dreams, life, and personal observations of what I see around me are all story ideas. And as soon as you get one, write it down!!! That’s the most important piece of advice I can give you 😉
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
WOAH. That is some intense dream, girl! I used to get ideas from my dreams as well, but for some reason the past year or so hasn’t yielded any dreams I’m able to remember, LOL.
Hmm, I like your point that story ideas are subconscious. That’s great! Thanks so much for sharing.
@faith-q I get ideas from dreams sometimes. Once when I was three or so, I had a dream that a dolphin, an orca, a shark and a turtle were caught in a net suspended over a waterfall, and a whale saved them. The next day I drew a zillion pictures telling that story (I didn’t know how to write back then).
Other times characters from my stories show up in my dreams. One time a character was yelling at his wife, and her sister was yelling at him. The weird thing was that the sister-in-law called the wife “Mary” when her name was actually “Feather.” It was pretty strange.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
Wow there’s a lot of good inspiration here.
@joy-caroline
I was prolly like 9 when I thought up the idea for my current biggest project. I was on my way to the library with my family when the song Kings and Queens by Audio Adrenaline (old song) came on the radio. For some reason that song struck inspiration in me and I began to write my first actually novel. I immediately pulled out a notebook and began scrawling down the idea.
Fast forward two years later and I found the idea and read it over. I liked it so much I began to write with it again, this time giving it more structure and plot. Two more years later and I turned the whole stinkin’ thing into a typed out version. Give or take a few more years and a whole series is born.
I have had a dream inspiration, but it was the strangest dream I can ever remember having. I may just turn it into a short story for fun. It was about a cupcake, (strawberry lemon vanilla to be precise) a betrayal, a best friend and a Russian scientist. It was so cliché, I’m glad I still remember it tho.
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
- Total Posts: 1379
Wow, that’s awesome you came up with the idea for your current WIP when you were only 9!
And woah, that is an interesting dream. Especially the Russian scientist part. I honestly think you could make a really unique story out of that!
Thanks for sharing!
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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😂😂
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