Book Ideas

[Maze_Runner]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas? Is it triggered by something happening? Is it another book? Is it a show or movie? Is it something else? I struggle on a day to day bases on coming up with ideas. I will normally have a small basket with pieces of paper that have the few book ideas that I have on them and draw from there to decide what book I'm going to write. Then once I do that I can't come up with a cover! How do you people deal with these stuff?!

 

[T.K._Paradox]

I literally come up with all of my ideas by scribbling some random nonsense down, mashing up genres and things I like, and asking my friends if the idea is too absurd.

Honestly, I would like to talk to more and more people about ideas I have and things I like.

 

[Lloyd]

They appear in my head like magic

 

[Vnator]

Usually as a reaction to seeing something. Eg. Reading The Gilded Hero and thinking there should be some kind of Isekai authority to save them. That got me the Isekai police!

Then, seeing all of the smut and ntr tags on what otherwise sounded like they would be interesting stories made me start writing a story about what it's like navigating that; about a decent guy stuck in a world out of those stories trying to make a normal living for himself.

 

[Irl_Rat]

I've been merging different ideas together. So I have maybe 3 or so stories roughly planned. But because I'm likely to only to take my sweet ass time with writing, I decided to start mixing and matching those three together. Merge the settings, mash multiple characters into one, try to maintain a cohesive theme. And of course, consider the possible waifus.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

For years I’ve thought about stories in my head to fall asleep at night. Just now started writing some things down.

 

[PancakesWitch]

I usually get ideas based in what I've read/watched/played, so its more like wanting to write my own interpretations of certain stories or characters set in different scenarios. It could be said I never get original ideas

 

[Maze_Runner]

I usually get ideas based in what I've read/watched/played, so its more like wanting to write my own interpretations of certain stories or characters set in different scenarios. It could be said I never get original ideas

I'll have to say I sometimes actually do the same thing! (My book Jungle Test is off of Maze Runner and my book Zoo Animal is off of Hunger Games!) that honestly surprises me that I'm not the only one

 

[BearlyAlive]

Whenever I see some cool stuff or nice things or even things that could have been cool or nice otherwise, I stea... I mean get inspired by things

 

[SirDogeTheFirst]

Some times from a random dream, mostly when I try to do something else. I also go by the method of "one expanding universe" (if something like that even exists. I just made that up.) So I can use the already existing universe I have into creating new characters or stories.

 

[Ai-chan]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas? Is it triggered by something happening? Is it another book? Is it a show or movie? Is it something else? I struggle on a day to day bases on coming up with ideas. I will normally have a small basket with pieces of paper that have the few book ideas that I have on them and draw from there to decide what book I'm going to write. Then once I do that I can't come up with a cover! How do you people deal with these stuff?!

Went to sleep and lived in another world as someone else in another life. When Ai-chan wakes up, Ai-chan starts writing a biography. If Ai-chan can't remember enough, Ai-chan just jot it down and push the idea into another biography that Ai-chan does remember.

Cover is an afterthought. Cover is not important. Cover should go to hell.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas? Is it triggered by something happening? Is it another book? Is it a show or movie? Is it something else? I struggle on a day to day bases on coming up with ideas. I will normally have a small basket with pieces of paper that have the few book ideas that I have on them and draw from there to decide what book I'm going to write. Then once I do that I can't come up with a cover! How do you people deal with these stuff?!

I read stuff on newspapers, encyclopedia entries, magazines, or watch documentaries.

That's how I get inspiration.

 

[Plantorsomething]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas? Is it triggered by something happening? Is it another book? Is it a show or movie? Is it something else? I struggle on a day to day bases on coming up with ideas. I will normally have a small basket with pieces of paper that have the few book ideas that I have on them and draw from there to decide what book I'm going to write. Then once I do that I can't come up with a cover! How do you people deal with these stuff?!

I steal everything with an ounce of potential and play with it. I also try to create things that have the exact feeling I got from something, but in a different way. In other words, let yourself have fun with it, and try to develop your sense of childish curiosity and imagination. Maybe look at a crappy show and wonder to yourself the various ways it could have been done better. Over time you’ll be looking at amazing shows and wondering what you would do different from them, or what you could take and steal to use for yourself.

 

[Deleted member 57675]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas? Is it triggered by something happening? Is it another book? Is it a show or movie? Is it something else? I struggle on a day to day bases on coming up with ideas. I will normally have a small basket with pieces of paper that have the few book ideas that I have on them and draw from there to decide what book I'm going to write. Then once I do that I can't come up with a cover! How do you people deal with these stuff?!

Sounds like you have a writing block.

Yes, weird mash-up dreams, interactions with others, things we see with our eyes, lead to it.

Unrelated but, my advice if you have ideas you really care about, then start writing those ideas, you never know if someone else will beat you to it and then you cannot use that idea for fear of being seen as copying them when you had that idea originally too. Different minds think alike but the audience may still scrutinize your work if its something similar to their fav work.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I'm curious . . . how does everyone come up with their ideas?

Carefully

 

[Cipiteca396]

I can't stop coming up with ideas. It's like an endless stream of thoughts carrying me down a river. The problem is that I'm so far downriver now that I can't develop the ideas I had before. Every time I try to think of an old idea, three new ones distract me.

The triggers range from dreams, stories I read, videos I watched, TV Tropes articles, real life situations, even random forum threads. Right now I'm juggling five different plotlines and none of them are the story I'm officially writing.