Writing Tips

Inspiration and Ideas

You want to write a book, but you have no idea what to write about.  Or, you are writing a book, and you need more ideas of where to go. 

Well, have no fear...Sara is here! 

No?  Okay...

Anyway, this chapter is similar to my previous chapter, which was about overcoming writer's block, but this chapter is focused more on the ideas of it all. 

So, how about we get to another numbered list?

1. Take a shower.  "Wait, what?"  No, I don't think you stink.  But if I could smell you through your screen, well, that's a different story.  ;)

The reason why I put this as one of my recommendations for coming up with ideas is because my best ideas come to me while I'm scrubbing myself with soap.  The shower is a place where my mind wanders to strange places, and in strange places come strange ideas.  And with strange ideas come unique stories.

Here's a comparison of my thought process:

Anywhere else: Bobby reluctantly goes to the nail salon with his wife.
In the shower: Bobby reluctantly goes to the nail salon with is wife.  He watches as she literally gets "bomb-ass nails."  And then, he has to run away before they combust.  But his wife survives the explosion, turning into a flaming monster that chases him for the rest of the story until she finally corners him and turns him to ash.

Which story would you rather read?

(Oh, wait.  That question might not be as rhetorical as I thought...The shower story might scare people away...XD)

2. Spend some time on the Internet.  Because once you get on, from Facebook to Instagram to iFunny to YouTube to any other website/app with cool stuff on it, it's hard to get off.  So, I can imagine you will see a lot of things.  Videos, screencaps, textposts, memes, blog posts, etc.  There's no telling what you'll find.

You can also get on Google and type in random words that have something to do with your story.  You can scroll through the web links or go to Google Images.  Sometimes this one disturbing photo of a fat hairy man posing with his Volkswagen Beetle gives you the character idea of Uncle Wally, the completely-crazy uncle that everyone loves because he loves life, aims to make everything fun, and doesn't care what other people think.

Just make sure you don't get counterproductive.

3. Watch TV/a movie.  It pretty much has the same effect as #2.  And, if you are writing a fanfiction, find the movie/TV show you are writing about and rewatch it.  You might catch something that you didn't see before, and you might be reminded of a loose end that never really got tied.  And maybe you don't like how it ended, and you want to change it to fit your preferences.

Just don't plagiarize!  And give credit where it belongs!

4. Write a fanfiction.  Fanfiction is a good foundational genre.  Even if you're not super-obsessed with a particular fandom, that doesn't mean you can't write about it. 

The reason why fanfiction is a great genre to start with is because everything is already laid out for you.  The characters are already developed, and they already have backstories (Or do they?).  You know what they look like, and you know how they would react in different situations.  Also, there's already a plot to refer back to if you were to write flashbacks, or base the characters' actions on an earlier event that has changed them.

Writing fanfiction is like having someone do your homework for you.  Now you can do with it as you please.  You don't have to worry about most of the prewriting...you can just write.

I love to write fanfiction because continuously bingeing Netflix has given me so many ideas.  I am a "what if?" person, always wondering how characters were to deal with a situation.  "What if Jack were to come back to life twenty years later?"  "What if she were to meet her favorite fictional characters?"  "What if their father had died instead of their mother?"  "What if he went to this college instead of that one?"  And on, and on, and on.

So yeah, I don't usually make it to non-fanfiction stories because I keep coming up with more ideas.  I guess that's a...good thing?  I, uh, hope you like fanfiction, because, um, that's, uh, all I really have on my account...

5. Base your characters off of real people.  I'm sorry Lola, but I may have written an entire story about you...  Oops.  So it looks like you're Wattpad-famous and probably don't even know what Wattpad is.  Heh heh.

No, really...in all seriousness...  There is no shame in this.  This is a really easy way to develop your characters.  If you base them off of real people, you can see them in your mind, and you know what they would do in a particular scenario.

Also, you can do the same with events instead of people.  If you had a really funny conversation with your sister, feel free to include a derivative of that in your book.

6. Read other Wattpad stories/books outside of Wattpad.  It's not a crime to get inspiration from someone else's writing.  Though, be polite and give them credit, or ask them if you can use a couple of their ideas.  But again I stress, do. not. plagiarize.  There's a difference between finding inspiration from someone's story and flat-out copying it.

Here's an example:

Wattpadder's story: A princess named Priscilla is kidnapped and taken to Russia, forced to work for a criminal organization called децимация (Detsimatsiya), translating to Decimation.  After training to become a stone-cold killer, her mission is to return to her home country and slit her parents' throats.

Copy: A princess named Diamond is kidnapped and taken to Japan, forced to work for an ex-Samurai-now-criminal organization called 破壊 (Hakai), translating to Destruction.  After training to become a stone-cold killer, her mission is to return to her home country and kill her mother and father.

Inspired story: A Chicago-born girl named Tiffany gets drunk and accidentally stumbles into the world of the mafia.  The members think they've been made, so they flee to another hiding place and kidnap Tiffany so she cannot run to the police and reveal their whereabouts.  When they discover her mental strength and desire to follow orders, they offer to train her, and she accepts.  Her training is completed right on time, because they are preparing to take down the gangs that plague the city, but with a catch: They're recruiting.  So, the mafia sends Tiffany in undercover to take the gangs out from the inside.

Which two stories are the most similar?  Which two stories are the most different?  One is plagiarism of the first, and the other is taking tiny bits of information from the first, changing them to be unique and not plagiarism, but only inspired by the story.

7. Find an idea book.  Many writers who have too many ideas to write about, or come up with ideas but don't know how to turn them into entire stories, will publish idea books.  Look for these and try out their ideas, but make sure you follow their rules.  Some Wattpadders want you to give them credit, and others want you to give them votes, shoutouts, or something else.  You are buying this idea from them, so hold up your end of the deal.  Though, some Wattpadders will ask for nothing in return of their ideas, but I still recommend at least giving them credit.  Throw in some votes too or something.

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Comment if this helped you! 

Also, if you have other methods for coming up with ideas, comment them for other readers to see!