Coming up with short story ideas

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gettingby

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For those of you who struggle with new ideas for short stories, what do you do? Know of any good websites with writing prompts to help generate ideas? Do you have another way to come up with good stories?

I am doing the write1/sub1 weekly challenge and don't know how I am going to come up with 52 brilliant ideas. I am happy so far, but now in week three (I signed up a little late) I am having a hard time. I kind of want to give up on my current story for a better idea, but feel stuck.

Any ideas of how to shock your writing system into overdrive? Thanks, guys.
 

Izz

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The monthly challenge in the Flash Fiction forum works well for me. Most of my stories run longer than flash, but that's all good. The challenge generates ideas :) Sometimes if i'm a bit stuck i'll go back through previous months' prompts and see what pushes my writing buttons.
 
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Jamesaritchie

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I am doing the write1/sub1 weekly challenge and don't know how I am going to come up with 52 brilliant ideas. I am happy so far, but now in week three (I signed up a little late) I am having a hard time. I kind of want to give up on my current story for a better idea, but feel stuck.

.

First, stop thinking abut coming up with fifty-two brilliant stories. You need to come up with only one. Worry abut number two next week.

Second, ideas do not make a story brilliant. Good writing , good storytelling, good characterizaion, etc., makes a story brilliant, whatever the idea. A better idea for a different story is probably not better at all, just different. And better or worse, the new idea will still be there next week.
 

Prisoner24601

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I have to admit that I've never really had a problem coming up with ideas that I want to write. I have a very, very long list of ideas that I'm working my way through one at a time.

Maybe try looking at anthology calls for submission? I know that I've had ideas sparked by those quite often.
 

Cernex

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My trick is usually just watching something (say, a movie), find things I don't like, work or figure out how I would've done it, and then I usually start brainstorming from there.

Oh yeah, and listen to lots of music too.
 

Marya

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Dreams are another source of inspiration. Keep a notebook and pen next to the bed and write down dreams or falling-asleep thoughts or daydreams when you wake up. The Unconscious gives great prompts.
 

Friendly Frog

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I used to write for a small e-zine that had diverse monthly themes: unicorns, travels, summer, rain, shells, frogs, ect, that sort of thing. I found it really useful to have a theme to think about. It provided more focus than just trying to figure out what to write about next.

I do still get ideas for short stories from movies I watch, or books I read, or just things I see outside but that's a process I can't control and it is far slower. It's rather useless if you want to write and finish a story every month, let alone every week like you will be attempting.

So maybe a list of themes at which you can look every week could help to kick-start inspiration.
 

gettingby

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Thanks, everyone. My idea for this week came to me last night. It is more complex than most of my ideas and difficult to pull off. Also not sure how it will end. Even though I am really trying to focus, I worry that I won't come up with an idea for next week. I think I am going to have a lot of anxiety this year. lol. But I will try some of yours tips. Thanks.
 

Silver-Midnight

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I used the first line generator out of curiosity.

Some of the words 'generated' were misspelled.

This never inspires confidence.

Wow....that's actually kind of uncomforting. I, truthfully, I really used once or twice myself, and what I generated I don't think I ended up using. However, I myself have trouble coming up with plot ideas sometimes so, I like plot generators, even if I don't use everything that I was given. Thanks for warning me though. I'll probably be wary of that one then.
 

catian

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I make them up as I go along.
Usually a picture/going for a walk/chatting to various people/writing poetry/chilling out/or just watching something can trigger an idea.
My ideas usually come and are inspired by what's around me, my past my present and what could be, future.
It is that simple.
 

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I have started up a habit in which I write something brand new for 10 minutes each day. I write it in a notebook that I wrote "DON'T LOOK BACK" on the cover of. My agreement with myself is that I never have to read over anything I write in this notebook. Theoretically, I could just recycle it once I've filled its pages. This allows me to write anything at all in it, without the fear of it not being "up to standard" or whatever.

By writing something completely new each day, even just for ten minutes, I generate a lot of ideas. But I know that I can actually write a short story from it when I feel an emotional connection.

Sometimes it's the emotion, actually, that produces the whole idea! For example, one day I was feeling crazy, and I had this feeling like the mental strings that connected me with all the things in my life were stretched taut, and in danger of snapping. I was so caught up with this fearful thought that I had to write a story about it!

In fact, my crazy anxieties have inspired a lot of my stories.

But anyways, I recommend something like the 10-minute writing each day. Just the act of putting your pen to the paper can produce some surprising results!
 

Silver-Midnight

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The monthly challenge in the Flash Fiction forum works well for me. Most of my stories run longer than flash, but that's all good. The challenge generates ideas :) Sometimes if i'm a bit stuck i'll go back through previous months' prompts and see what pushes my writing buttons.

I second that idea. That can really help. You also try listening to the radio or something like that. Pandora Radio is online, and it's free to use/join. Again, just a suggestion.
 

Niiicola

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I use the prompts on Sunday Scribblings sometimes, although I don't post my stories. They tend to be pretty vague, and I find that they're just enough to get me going when I need a little kickstart.
 

Niiicola

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Dreams are another source of inspiration. Keep a notebook and pen next to the bed and write down dreams or falling-asleep thoughts or daydreams when you wake up. The Unconscious gives great prompts.
I second this. I got the basis for an entire novel out of a single dream.
 

MatthewWuertz

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Life itself might conjure ideas. I don't really know where most come from. But I have learned to keep a notebook with me wherever I am. I have lost ideas over the years thinking that I'll remember them later, only to realize later that I don't recall them. Not all ideas turn into stories, but the interesting ones rattle around for a while, solidifying into settings, plot and characters to the point that I can't put them off anymore. I don't know if that sounds mystical or not - it's just how things are for me. At any rate - keep a notebook around just in case.
 

jaksen

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You can also take a look at things that happened in your past, and put a twist on it. (What would've happened if it turned out this way?)

This is so true. I have used locations, people and events that happened in my childhood as a leaping-off point to start a story. (My stories all start with a title and two people talking about something, then everything flows from there...)

I remember stories my grandfather told me. (He was born in 1903.) Or I recall parts of conversations I overheard as a child. Or I use incidents I was a part of, like being chased down a beach at night with a friend by someone wearing a long, black coat. I put that in a story I wrote and sold years ago. It was only part of the story.

Mine your own life. Look back over it. Not just things you participated in, but things you heard about, snatches of conversations between adults before you walked into the room are great. I lived in a small rural town with lots of interesting 'characters' as neighbors and relatives - but name me someone who didn't have an interesting childhood? If you really think your family was dull, think of the teachers and kids you knew in school. Or the various jobs you had, or the members of your friends' families or the weird guy who lived down the street or in the first floor apartment.

Story ideas are everywhere.
 

Silver-Midnight

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This is so true. I have used locations, people and events that happened in my childhood as a leaping-off point to start a story. (My stories all start with a title and two people talking about something, then everything flows from there...)

I remember stories my grandfather told me. (He was born in 1903.) Or I recall parts of conversations I overheard as a child. Or I use incidents I was a part of, like being chased down a beach at night with a friend by someone wearing a long, black coat. I put that in a story I wrote and sold years ago. It was only part of the story.

Mine your own life. Look back over it. Not just things you participated in, but things you heard about, snatches of conversations between adults before you walked into the room are great. I lived in a small rural town with lots of interesting 'characters' as neighbors and relatives - but name me someone who didn't have an interesting childhood? If you really think your family was dull, think of the teachers and kids you knew in school. Or the various jobs you had, or the members of your friends' families or the weird guy who lived down the street or in the first floor apartment.

Story ideas are everywhere.

You can also look at incidents that plainly happened to you and play with it. Have the event have a different set-up to it, have the event happen the same way but have a different outcome, have the event happen the same way, have the same outcome, but have your character(s) react differently than the people involved did.

Also jaksen said, look at your neighbors, look at people you saw, etc.

The biggest part of coming up with an idea, and I even have trouble with this, is just letting your brain play around with stuff.
 

Jamesaritchie

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I think it's important to remember that you don't need ideas, you just need an idea. Start planning ideas too far ahead, start piling up ideas that you won't use for weeks or months, and you probably aren't helping yourself, you're just piling up ideas that aren't likely to be any good.

Worry about the idea you have today, and the story you're writing today, not idea/story you may write in three weeks or three months.
 

TumbleHome

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Honestly, I don't have any problems coming up with ideas (stupid brain never shuts off), it's fleshing out the connective tissue that's my struggle.

HOWEVER, at one point I was having trouble with that. I agree with everyone here about reading lots of books, listen to music (especially new-to-you stuff) and watching movies. Specifically what helped me was going to the biography/autobiography section of the library and picking out a random book about someone I've never heard of before. The more I force myself out of my comfort zones, the better my writing/ideas get.
 
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