I need help writing a story.How do you get ideas for a story.Post em here.

I get ideas from in a number of ways. Firstly I'm always looking for new concepts to take my writing to new levels. I never stop looking!

I think it's important to first know what you're writing about. Is your story about epic battles and heroes on horseback? Or is your tale about the romance between a man and a woman and the trials and tribulations of that relationship? With things like that in mind you can start searching for inspiration!

For example my story is the tale of a young demon childs rise to power. It's a scandelous story with plenty of erotisicm, lore and political intrigue. (At least I think so ^_^) I decided on a Indian/Hindi undercurrent in the culture of my demonic peoples. So I did some research in to Hindi lore and mystisim. Most of my information came from watching National Geographic specials on India. I also read a few Hindi fables as well. To keep things interesting I sprinkled some ideas from different cultures in to the mix. Chinese, Scadinavian and African/Egyptian. Doing this helped with costume design, (I like to draw my characters) settings and the over all mood of the story.

I also used my knowledge of basic fantasy. Your classic fantasy stories that everyone is familiar with. A HUGE portian of my inspiration comes from 15 years of reading fantasy and science-fiction. Not to mention my love for comic books, movies and anime. Now keep in mind I only use these things for inspiration. I have too much pride to just simply steal an idea with out taking the time to turn it in to something uniquely my own. It's the respectful thing to do.

When is comes to creative imagery; Sometimes when I'm out and about and an interesting moment occurres... Say the sun sets in a pretty way or an interesting conversation with a stranger - I try to imagine how I would use words to decribe the moment. It's like a little exercise for my writing.

Lastly - you can never have a big enough vocabulary! So many people go through out their lives using improper grammer. It is my personal opinion that it can make or break a story. I can't tell you how many times I've read a fan fic or original work and the grammer is far too 'casual' to depict their characters accuratley. Sometimes it just doesn't mesh. So strengthen your vocab!!

Well , that was my two cents. I could go on forever, but I won't. Hope it helps. =)

In response to Sliverbane's post, it may be a good idea for you, Edgehead, to start with a story that's uncopyrighted such as a Greek legend or something and make your own spin on it. Here's another tip but it was told to me in the context of art and not writing. Research can often inspire you so when you are feeling stuck, research, research, research. Most importantly with writing, you should be out reading other peoples stories as well as published literature.

Thanks Silverbane! :wink: :)

I agree with BogusRed on the whole mythology thing. There are so many beautiful myths that you can get inspiration from. I guess it all depends on what's important to you. For me, I like to write about love overcoming all obstacles. ( Mushy stuff) Mostly because I'm a girl. :evil: Try to pick just one thing that really is close to your heart. I love the Inuyasha series, so I made my fanfic tribute to some of my favorite characters. I'm sure whatever you write about will be perfect for you. The most important thing is that you WANT to write. That's the most important thing that you need. Good luck. :thumbsup:

basically, what everyone above said.. I get influences from the things I've read, seen, or watched (like movies, animes, etc.).

To me writing poems is just to find the inspiration to write, then the theme to the poem (anything goes...) and finally to live up the poem inside my head. I'm not sure, if it'll work out with you though, but for me it works perfectly (AND i'm not sure if it'll work with story... it's way longer than poem), although i can't control when and where i'll start to write poems...

On side notice: new poems coming up, hopefully i'll post one or two at friday (i'm at work then and there is free access to net)...

I like to sit out on my porch and just let my brain run wild. I sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and just let the words drip from my pen...Having extra little tid bits of stories, or even just descriptive words or phrases written in places can help you when you've hit the proverbial brick wall. :wink: Try and let your surroundings tell you what to write; you'll probably be surprsied at how you truely see the world!

I basically get ideas from Movies, because write now I am writing short movies based on Star Wars, but with different names based on the characters, but with a different storyline and life span of the characters espeacially when they get introduced in, and get cut right out of the storys.

Well, it all really depends. Most of the time, I get ideas when I am relaxing, like in the tub or laying down doing nothing. Also, many ideas can come from music. You could always try a song fic. And, if youre still stuck, just get out pen and paper and write whatever comes to mind. At first it may start off and seem stupid, but it can work. Hope I helped a bit ^.^