Where do you get your ideas?

[Ebil]

I get most of my ideas while bored out of my mind in some class at school. I have to jot it down in the margin of something to remember it (my poor teachers.... i sometimes wonder what did they think when they found random scribblings about spirit-summonings and airships and mages and little doodles of elves and aliens and stuff next to my notes on the civil war...)

Once I get an idea, to develop it I have to fuel it. My job helps with that - I dog-sit, and the dogs are really not very interesting company, so while my body is occupied with the task of picking up and throwing a soggy rubber ball (which doesn't require much thought) my mind is free to brainstorm tons of new developments for whatever I'm working on... taking showers help, too; while I take the shower, my once again unoccupied mind wanders around and makes a lot of really good stuff.

Listening to music really helps me with the actual writing, it gives me a sort of... inclination to keep going, going, going, hurtling mindlesly onwards. Especially energetic songs like DDR music.

[lunariiku]

Uhmm.. it depends if I'm drawing or writing. If I'm drawing, I sort of draw a few squiggles and draw some more until it turns into something that I can recognize. Or I'll wander around and most likely someone will say something completely random and I'll get an idea from there. And most the time it has nothing to do with what they said.

Now, writing, ideas are tough to come by. Especially since I've never finished any of my stories. I guess I just let my mind wander around and I see me in my mind and I'll do something random/stupid and that sets off an idea.

Music DEFINITELY helps. And usually if I'm writing something, I'll listen to a song that fits the mood of it and I'll write longer then I normally do.

[insanepurpleone]

Usually I just start thinking about things and go off on some tangent that leads me to a story. Not necessarily a good story that gets finished, but a story. Sometimes when I'm thinking about other stories I've read, sometimes when I'm just thinking about random things like vampires or dragons.

Also, I like to try those random little story-starter sentences and write about them. Some of them I find on the internet, and some I just kind of make up. The story I'm writing right now was inspired by a story starter that was something like "She heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled up in the driveway." Seriously, I've created an entire world, many characters, and all sorts of stuff.. it's writing the story I'm having trouble with, but I'm constantly coming up with ideas and characters and things. It's amazing what one little sentence can do!

[correctoraline]

Hm, pretty much everything... Sometimes there are these voices in my mind...

Mmmkay, not only them. I get inspiration from pretty much anything. Reading NT, playing games, watching cartoons, remembering somthing boring like physics laws, while occuping the bathroom (don't ask), talking with my mom... The problem is writing 'em, especially in English, since it's not my native Language. (Well, I have troubles even when I'm writting in Portuguese, I never finish a story I write.)

[Salah~]

Usually, I'll just be trying to think of something, and a better idea for what I wanted to think of, or a not-too-related idea will pop into my head. Then I'll be like dying to wirte it down.

[Deleted]

As with many other people who have posted on this thread, I don't actively TRY to come up with ideas, they just come at random times. I find that I get a lot of ideas at night, though, and I can't tell you how many times I've had to roll over in the middle of the night to write a page or two of a story when I'm trying to sleep. (Some examples of story beginnings I've written in the middle of the night are "One Night at Midnight", a short story, and "Revisited", one of my series.) Not surprisingly, I have the easiest time writing at night, so during the stummer, when I have no alarm waking me up in the morning, I stay up really late and do a lot of writing.

[Deleted]

When I read a story, and then people criticize it for a flaw, I imagine my own version of the story that has the flaw fixed. That goes for the Star Wars novels XP

I also like including plot points that are connected to songs I've heard (like a line from the Dresden Dolls' "Bad Habit" about kicking the bucket 60 times)

[Deleted]

Most of the emotions I try to put in stories are ones reflecting my everyday life. My stories are almost always influenced by what environment I'm in. I first started writing "Brought Together" when I was on a ski trip and saw all this snow outside...so then I was like I should write a story taking place on Terror Mountain xD. Then I thought about the characters and decided I would base both of them off of me, my reserved, structured and logical side and the other part of me that's really flaky and spontaneous, and also much more humorous. So I decided I would make them clash, and by the end of the story, the main character has kind of reached a balance where he can joke around while still keeping his head on his shoulders. The other one stays funny and happy-go-lucky, to show how that part of me is never gonna change, because I always keep a level of openness. Anyways, you probably think all of that sounded weird, but I love taking real life experiences and incorporating them into my plots and characters. I get my ideas whenever I'm feeling strongly enough about something.

Edit: OH. I almost forgot about music. What music I'm listening to is an integral factor in how my writing turns out. And if I'm not listening to music, I can concentrate more, but I get bored.

[TC - Back From the Dead...]

Elvis shares them with me XDD

No, but seriously, I just think of the simplest ideas, and then how to add things to them to make them much more interesting...don't try and go straight into a complicated plot, you'll more often than not just infuriate yourself when none make themselves known.

[nope]

I get my ideas when I'm about to fall asleep. They seem so fantastic I can hardly fall asleep. When I do fall asleep, and wake up the next day I can't remember them XDXD

[nope]

In my first (and only) comic in the nt accualy happened in real life but with a different concept (nt comic link in siggy)

[puffydude]

Inspiration come from all over the place, though for me it's usually when a random image just flashes up in my mind. I try to give it a few quirks, and maybe dress it up a bit, and viola, I have a plot.

Music really helps, so I'd recommend it to anyone. Unfortunately, though, my iPod's gone missing at the moment, so I've been force to work on my series without it

[nope]

Inspiration come from all over the place, though for me it's usually when a random image just flashes up in my mind. I try to give it a few quirks, and maybe dress it up a bit, and viola, I have a plot.

Music really helps, so I'd recommend it to anyone. Unfortunately, though, my iPod's gone missing at the moment, so I've been force to work on my series without it

I abduct my parent's Ipod and listen to Beatles music... It gives me a few ideas... for random doodles:P

[Deleted]

I either can't find my post, or I never posted here.

I get my ideas from people. They tell me a great idea they have and then I steal it.

Kidding, kidding. But I do get ideas from people. Random conversations with my friends, brother, or parents give me ideas. Communication. Being around people. Observing people and their behavior.

[jockylocky]

Me? Well...i get my ideas from anywhere really. Sometimes when i try and think of stories, i can get really good ones, then 2 months later i hate em. So i try not to go in that direction.

Sometimes i think about Neopets. And with thinking, i can get anywhere from Jeran of Meridell to how i hated my ninth birthday at the bowling alley. Weird, i know. But just from thinking, i got an awesome inspiration that for an article that i will submit for the 300th issue!