Where do story ideas come from, anyway?

"Where/How do you find ideas for stories?"

I’m sure all writers have been asked this question in some form or another over the years. My personal trainer asked me just last week, in fact. The simple answer is “everywhere”. But the longer answer likely varies from writer to writer. Here are some ways story ideas have come to me.

1 - Freewriting/Morning pages

Sometimes you just gotta start writing. Just get the words down on paper and not worry about whether they flow or sound right—or even that they’re spelled properly. One day about a year and a half ago, I was freewriting just to wake my brain up and focus. I’d had almost an entire page written when suddenly I lost my train of thought. I couldn’t remember what I’d just been thinking about or where I had wanted it to go. It was annoying at first. How many times has that happened to any of us? But then the lightbulb clicked on, and a “what if” occurred to me. What if there were invisible creatures that stole the thoughts right out of your head just as they formed? That would explain why we go into another room and suddenly forget what we’re doing. The story that became “Project Thought Thieves” grew from there.

2 - Music

I’d walk halfway around the world

For just one kiss from you…

I’d go anywhere for you

Anywhere you ask me to

I’d do anything for you

Anything you want me to

("Anywhere For You", Backstreet Boys)

I’ve been listening to this Backstreet Boys song for over twenty years. But it wasn’t until last year that the question occurred to me: why? Why would someone go halfway around the world for a kiss? Why is the other person halfway around the world? Is there some relationship trouble that needs fixing? Whose story is this?

This one’s on the back burner for now while I focus on Project Thought Thieves, but I really want to know the answers. (Of course, I also need to learn how to write a romance.)

3 - Writing Prompts

You can find these everywhere. Writing prompt books, websites, social media, friends. (There’s probably an app for that, too.) Even podcasts. The Writing Excuses podcast includes a writing prompt at the end of every episode.

The NaNoWriMo website had/has a lot of “adoption” forums where you can share plots, titles, characters, etc., that you’re not going to use and let someone else take it. Project Energy, for example, was originally inspired by a set of three titles: If the Shoe Fits, If the Dress Fits, and If the Crown Fits. (And Cinderella/Cinder.) But from all the planning and rewriting I’ve done, those prompts are nowhere to be found in this story. So, I may save those specific titles for other stories in the future.

4 - Retellings

This one is a gold mine. So many classic stories to be retold. Look at The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Snow White), Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne (Jane Eyre in space), the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Returning to the Writing Excuses podcast again, they give a writing prompt in season 8 to do a Bible story retelling in a science fiction space setting. That was the inspiration for my NaNoWriMo 2020 novel, Project Star Dreamer, a retelling of the story of Joseph.

What other retellings can you think of?

5 - Life experience

Seriously, you never know the stories that could come from your life experiences, good or bad. I’m not nearly ready to write a story that includes a historic, record-breaking flood that causes a devastating loss of property, or even a character battling cancer. But I’m definitely thinking about a story about someone who is contacted by an old schoolmate (who they may or may not know, let alone remember) about a time capsule their elementary school buried twenty-five years ago to celebrate the school’s 25th anniversary, to be opened that year. And this schoolmate offers to mail the letter the main character wrote to himself/herself.

That story could turn into a romance, a mystery, a literary story. Who knows where it could go? But for now, I’ve made a note of it in my journal to come back to someday. And somehow, I'll fit in the anticipation and surprise I felt when this schoolmate got in touch about it.

There are so many other places you can look to for inspiration. These five are just a starting point. Have you been inspired by any of these? What other ways or places have you found story ideas?