As gross as the title sounds, no, I am not going to discuss horror movies today. 😉
Actually, I’ve been thinking over some different plot ideas I’ve had. They haven’t been serious enough thoughts for an actual brain storm, more like a light sprinkle. Thus the title of this blog.
For those writers out there, how do you create plots? We’re talking about creating characters over at Scribble Chicks and it’s just got me thinking about how many, many ways there are to get your creative juices flowing!
Like, for example, I know people who are inspired to creativity by a long shower or a hot bath. I’ve never been one for baths (unless I’m sick. The water gets too cold too quickly for my taste), but I love a good, long, blistering hot shower. I’d like to say I get inspired in the shower just as an excuse to stay in there longer, but sadly, I don’t. Usually, my mind is a complete and utter blank in there. I blame it on the combination of steam and guava-peach scented bodywash.
Or, I know people who get inspired by listening to big, dramatic soundtracks. Problem for me: I’m not a fan of big, dramatic soundtracks. I’m a jumper. If a cymbal clashes in a movie, I pop off that couch so high you can fit a phone book in the space between my tush and the cushion. So, I’m think there wouldn’t be inspiration as much as just perspiration if I tried that approach. (I can just see myself getting this permanent twitch anytime I came near my laptop.)
I tend to want only three things when I’m chewing over an idea: 1) A quiet house, 2) A lot of time and 3) Chocolate. This combination has worked time and again, but you never know how well something else might work until you try it, right? I’m all about mild change being a good thing!
So, your turn! Writer or not, how do you get inspired?
I don't try to find inspiration… it finds me all on its own accord! Seriously though… reading a good book in the same genre as what I'm writing, thinking about what my book will look like when it's published, and checking up on my wordcount are all very likely to inspire me. So does the smell and sound of a rainy day. 🙂 Oh, and one more thing… for me, inspiration comes in the dead of night.
Looking at something that has been done over and over again so many times it has become a cliche and going "how can i eliminate that cliche"
I am a definite subscriber to the hot shower method. Also a quiet house on a rainy day. News headlines too, I have been inspired by before, just imagining how a person may have felt and reacted.
A good Starbucks drink though, never hurts!
I really don't go searching for inspiration. Of course, I'm not a published author working on a deadline (YET!) so I just have tons of ideas floating through my head 24/7. Sometimes they make it to the computer, sometimes they don't.
For me it's all about music. I'll listen to some random song, and suddenly an entire plot will pop into my head! Now I just have to figure out the whole transferring the story from my brain to paper… Unfortunately, this technique doesn't work for college papers, which is about all I have time to write these days.
Photography, music, and traveling give me great ideas for stories. 🙂
i like to take just about any experience in life and look at it in a comedic way. with a spin of life experience and fiction it is easy to build a plot. problem for me is making it longer than a "short story". i don't think i'm cut out to write novels =p
My inspirations really come from daily events in my life…past or present. I just change names to protect the innocent. Hehehe
1) Quiet room
2) LOTS of time
3) Chocolate AND coffee
People watching.
For me, chocolate works about as good as a hot shower does for you… But I eat it anyway!