What inspires your stories?

[Lord DragonsWing]

I haven't written a story in awhile. Yet look for the inspiration to "get back" into the mode. So I'm wondering, what inspires you to keep writing?
Is it love? Life? The love of writing?

 

[Darkniciad]

The voices in my head.

*laugh* Sort of in jest, but most of my ideas just pop in my head and scream until I write them. There's usually no trigger event, time, or anything of that nature. I'm just plugging along at work or sitting around doing nothing and the hook hits me. When I sit and try to form an idea is when I get in trouble. I end up stalling everything else and accomplishing nothing.

 

[tickledkitty]

Everything. All the time.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Ideas pop into my head from time to time. One way I can induce them to do that is by viewing porn. I click on some of the free sites on the front page of Lit. and download movie clips that sound interesting. When I view them, I get inspiration, sometimes more than once.

 

[TE999]

Love of writing primarily---and the rhythms of everyday life.

I get some great story ideas working out at the gym--construct the plots in my head during my exercises--then come home and start typing.

The ideas are out there and all around you. Watch and be inspired.

 

[Texan065]

I get most of my inspiration from my fantasies. Since my fantasies are in full color with surround sound I tend to over-think them until I eventually have a story.

I also tend to like the set-up that starts off a good story so I try and work on building that up. Of course, I am a rank amateur compared to most authors in here.

 

[Carnevil9]

Good stories have conflict, right? And personal growth? So I usually get inspired when I totally fuck something up, like a relationship. The conflict from that major-league fuck-up sticks in my craw, and I need to get it down on paper to get it out of my head. Some of my favorite (I won't say "best") stories came about that way.....Carney

 

[Chantilyvamp]

Dreams, visions and emotions. Some from real life experiences. That is why I write and where my stories comes from. Even when its non-erotic moment I could see a birthday candle, hear a song, a vision will pop in my head and then the words come good or bad and I write them down. But my dreams could fuel stories for years and years if I could just put them into words. We could have horror, hauntings, love and pure raw passion that would set the world on fire. My dreams have always been very vivid and very creative.

 

[wishfulthinking]

I haven't written a story in awhile. Yet look for the inspiration to "get back" into the mode.

Waiting for inspiration is sometimes like waiting to see the dentist. What often helps me get unstuck is popping over to the SDC and reading through a story and analysing it. It gets me thinking, which sometimes gets me writing.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

Experience is my guide, my inspiration, my constant muse.

 

[RogueLurker]

What inspires me to write? A line from a song, a bit of conversation I've had or overheard, something I've seen or something that pops into my head - things come and go, ideas seem brilliant and then fade to obscurity as I turn them over and try to flesh them out.

When I write and get in the zone, there's a terrific feeling of accomplishment to get the images and ideas out of my head and onto paper and a fascination with how things expand and evolve while I do it.

I have some good strong ideas that make me want to write, and I enjoy the actual writing. Sometimes, its just the push to actually sit down and do it that seems elusive.

 

[cloudy]

What inspires me to write? A line from a song, a bit of conversation I've had or overheard, something I've seen or something that pops into my head - things come and go, ideas seem brilliant and then fade to obscurity as I turn them over and try to flesh them out.

When I write and get in the zone, there's a terrific feeling of accomplishment to get the images and ideas out of my head and onto paper and a fascination with how things expand and evolve while I do it.

I have some good strong ideas that make me want to write, and I enjoy the actual writing. Sometimes, its just the push to actually sit down and do it that seems elusive.

Get out of my head!

um....yeah, what she said.

 

[galaxygoddess]

Dreams. Dreams and fantasies.

9 times out of 10 I'll wake up from a really weird dream, write it down in as much detail as I can and then elaborate on it. Sometimes, it'll be something I fantasize about and I'll try to capture it so I can remember the fantasy.

Sometimes it is a combination of both. I'll dream it and then I'll fantasize about it, or I'll fantasize and then a dream will elaborate it for me.

Most of my stories are created first thing in the morning.

Right now, my latest dream, of a girl who gets lost in a book while walking and winds up in the middle of no where, is begging to be written and elaborated on.

 

[RogueLurker]

Get out of my head!

um....yeah, what she said.

*push*

start writing

 

[glynndah]

I hear people talking in my head. If I listen long enough, I can usually figure out what they're doing and then I just write it down. The dialogue is always there first, long before the narration and the "action".

 

[MarshAlien]

My muse, the aptly named Errato (for both her erratic nature and her consistent failure to find typos). On a recent trip through the Author's Hangout, I spotted Oggbashan's thread on the Halloween Contest. Should we have a support thread now, he asked? "No," echoed the resounding answer, "it's way too early." I agreed.

Errato did not. She was on my ass all last week with ideas for a Halloween story. I pointed out that we have two other stories in progress. She pointed out she could find another hack to work with. So here I sit, with a finished Halloween story, on the sixth of August.

 

[rgraham666]

This is the only verifiable inspiration for a story I wrote.

The rest came from somewhere Out There, and leave no way for me to track them back.

 

[Guest]

Fantasies, for the most part.

Sometimes, I'll think of a clever bit of dialog, and write a story leading to it (and then delete that particular scene in final editing WTF??)

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

This question is far more complex than it appears. There isn't just one thing that creates the idea of a story. My list -

Rememberances of my life

Newspaper Articles

Personal Observances of occurances around me

Characters that I have created in my head

Fragments of stories I've started and left unfinished, then resurected and rewritten

Ideas that just seem to come to me (Muse)

A line of prose that pops in my head and won't go away

It could be almost anything.

 

[Recidiva]

Very often it's a word or a turn of phrase that occurs to me. I'll jot it down in my "fiction" file and then if I get an accumulation of such, I'll be able to make a story.

I think the best of mine came out in a huge rush, though, just a full-on inspiration that had more to do with channeling than work.

Mostly I have a bunch of fragments that inspire me, but don't often make it to the point where they justify a whole story.

So for me, I wait for inspiration, which is rare, and rarely do any work, which is why I'm not a particularly GOOD author, but I have fun.

 

[TxRad]

Where don't I get ideas might be a much easier question to answer. Ideas are everywhere. Sorting the wheat from the chaff is the hard part.

Two AV's in this thread alone have generated three new ideas. Most of my ideas come from a single picture in most cases. Be it on the page or in my head.

I know what triggered almost every one of my stories.

 

[Guest]

Anything and everything inspires. Real life experiences, fantasies, the odd thought while driving, the half-remembered erotic dream when I first wake up, the leer my husband tosses my direction every so often . . .

The trouble is finding time to write all those stories!

 

[RogueLurker]

Two AV's in this thread alone have generated three new ideas.

Scrolling up through the posts, I'm intrigued. I'll be interested to see how you craft an erotic tale around Snoopy at the typewriter.

Oh .. I know ...

"Dear Penthouse," the beagle pounded the keys on the old Underwood, "I never believed it could happen to me. My cousin Spike and I were walking past Pepermint Patty's house when we heard ..."

 

[galaxygoddess]

Scrolling up through the posts, I'm intrigued. I'll be interested to see how you craft an erotic tale around Snoopy at the typewriter.

Oh .. I know ...

"Dear Penthouse," the beagle pounded the keys on the old Underwood, "I never believed it could happen to me. My cousin Spike and I were walking past Pepermint Patty's house when we heard ..."

"Granma's chicken salad... yeah baby!"

Ok, I watched way too much of that show >.>

 

[Guest]

Scrolling up through the posts, I'm intrigued. I'll be interested to see how you craft an erotic tale around Snoopy at the typewriter.

Oh .. I know ...

"Dear Penthouse," the beagle pounded the keys on the old Underwood, "I never believed it could happen to me. My cousin Spike and I were walking past Pepermint Patty's house when we heard ..."

Bleah.




(Edited to add - I just might be scarred for life!)