Ideas from Everywhere (and Nowhere)!

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

This month I'm a co-host! The other fabulous co-hosts are: Victoria Marie Lees, Natalie Aguirre, and C. Lee McKenzie! Be sure to give them a visit! 

This month's optional question is: Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

My ideas come from everywhere! Or in the case of the last few years, nowhere! But more on that later...

Since all of my ideas are old, you've probably heard all this before. But maybe you're new here, or if not, I can tell you again! 

Uneven Lines, my main WIP that I've been working on for FIFTEEN YEARS *ahem* came to me in the span of an evening after watching some trashy exposé on student-teacher relationships on the E! channel. For some stupid reason, I decided I wanted to write about an age gap relationship (I don't recommend it), and went off to my college writing class with no concrete details in mind. While sitting in class, Jordan (the main character of UL) birthed himself from my brain and threw his plot at my head like a brick. And the rest is a long, painful (but occasionally enjoyable) history.

I've gotten at least one idea from a dream. The story I still call Shiny New Story, although it is no longer shiny or new, is one. I dreamt about two characters meeting up in a barn, and for some reason I knew the entire scope of their relationship in that scene, and I found that super interesting. I can't tell you what it is--spoilers!--but I have written a bit of this story and would love to finish it someday. 

I've gotten story ideas against my will, like with Sexy Fluff #1 (there will be others...). I was just minding my own business writing a pointless scene that takes place before Book 3 in Jordan's maybe someday trilogy, just for funsies. I realized how easily I was writing this scene, one that was leaning more towards romance than the super complicated stuff I usually write. Then I thought, huh, maybe if I tried writing more typical romance I could actually bust out books faster and maybe actually get something published. But that's silly because I don't have a plot idea, right? Ha, WRONG. The next morning I woke up with a rivals-to-lovers story idea and wrote over 50k words of it for NaNoWriMo. And, you guessed it, I haven't finished it! There's a recurring theme here, isn't there?

I can get ideas from music. There are a few songs on Taylor Swift's album 1989 that remind me of my first relationship in high school, and since there is also a song called "Wonderland" on that album, I thought I'd just tie all my ideas about this together and write a fictionalized version of that relationship that is also a play on Alice in Wonderland. There's a line in the song "Out of the Woods" that I love: "the monsters turned out to be just trees," which has made me think of my mindset back then about my own mental health. Basically the overarching idea would be that even if you think it will, a relationship will not fix all of your problems. And the fact that this boyfriend was from the same friend group made it feel like a spectacle at times, makes me resonate with the song "I Know Places." How does Alice in Wonderland tie in? I'm not sure yet, except...we're all mad here! 

I've never actually written out that idea before so let me know if it sounds interesting or crazy! Oh, and I came up with the whole thing on the treadmill.

Lately, though, the ideas have been sparse. I honestly can't remember the last time that I came up with a new idea. On some level, I guess that's a good thing, since I have so many unfinished ideas to work with. But it can also be frustrating since I've been struggling to write anything for a few years. Recently, I actually started to think about a new idea that was based on my current situation. There's a main character who is a writer or maybe another type of artist that is creatively frustrated, maybe struggling and feeling blocked in other portions of her life as well.

I thought maybe it could turn into a horror/thriller. Maybe the protagonist comes across something that could help her but isn't all it seems to be, kind of like the movie The Substance. But it also reminded me of a season of American Horror Story, and I got stuck thinking of where to go with this story to make it original and interesting. All the ideas seemed to have been done before. And like with this protagonist, I've hit the wall with my creative ideas. Again. But hey, it was just a whisper of an idea. Maybe the next step will come to me soon. 

Well, I've certainly rambled enough!!!!! Basically, my ideas can come from anywhere. Thanks for stopping by! 

Where do you get your story ideas?