Thursday Thought: Where I Get Ideas From

Image from: Saricientta

I thought I would talk about about where I get ideas from, because it's something that people always seem to be interested in.

It's hard to pinpoint where you get ideas from so I had a look around me and thought about what I do each day. Essentially I surround myself with creative things and spend a lot of time absorbed in stories. I probably watch about two or three films a week. I watch a fair bit of TV. I read three of four books a month. I read webcomics everyday. I read print comics every month or so. I love to spend time online looking at art and photography, I also save a lot of pictures if I find them particularly interesting. I play video games quite a lot too. My point is, most of my interests and the things I spend my time doing involve stories in one way or another and thus can be inspiring. I love watching Skins, which isn't for everyone but it's good to see how stories develop, how characters interact, to see a plot unfold, to see something that is different to your own work. It can still be influential in ways you wouldn't think.

Ghost in the Shell pushed me to take one of my stories in a different direction and the game Jet Set Radio Future inspired other aspects of it. A nature programme about a man who had an incredibly close relationship with wild bears inspired another of my stories as did the snow during the winter of 2010.

I know people who's stories were inspired by a photograph. People who were inspired by their own experiences or by the stories of people they've met. People who were inspired by other books that they thought were awful so decided to show that they could write something better. People who are inspired by their favourite authors because they want to be just as good as them. People who are inspired by music. All sorts of things can inspire and influence you. 

Image from: Adihrespati

Ideas are everywhere.

I get my ideas from all over the place. So this post has probably been entirely unhelpful. I think that ideas are easy, it's everything else involved in writing that is hard. Creating a believable world inhabited by believable characters is incredibly hard. Creating a story that works, makes sense and is interesting is incredibly hard. The ideas are not so hard. You get ideas by daydreaming. By experiencing other stories both real and made-up. Most of my stories start out as "what if" wonderings.

I think it's incredibly important that as a creative person you have time and space to just think about things. To daydream. To stare out of the window uninterrupted and mull things over. I think it's important to surround yourself with creative and inspiring things and people. Don't let the real world drag you down. Don't let yourself become boring and mundane. Stay creative. Otherwise how can an idea grow into something wonderful if you're not taking proper care of your headspace? Also, write them down even if you think they're stupid or of no use to you now. They might be later on.

So, where do I get my ideas? As Neil Gaiman said "I make them up. Out of my head."