Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
A lot of people have an idea of what or who they want to write about. It makes the job so much easier of writing a book if you know where you want to take it. But what if you need story ideas for courses, classes, or just for fun?
There are times when I need an idea for a short story contest or if I want to try running with a new genre. That’s part of who I am, though – always challenging myself or doing something just to see if I can do it.
In reality, there are a number of ways you can get story ideas for whatever reason. In the end, it all comes down to your imagination and how you’re able to mold the ideas into something people might enjoy reading.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that there is no right or wrong answer, here. If something works well to kickstart your creativity, then who’s to say that you’re doing it wrong? As I’ve said many times before, the best methods for anything are the methods that work best for you.
This means that everyone is unique and will develop strategies to succeed based on their own experiences.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with looking at how others do something. And you may even incorporate a lot of their practices to suit your needs. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to finding a flow that keeps you writing.
Check out my video on getting ideas for your book…
Getting Story Ideas to Drive Your Creativity
For many authors, story ideas just seem to flow like a raging river wiping out a small village. And some just seem to pump out a new book every other month. Does that mean they are special or gifted? In a sense, yes. Not everyone has such an overactive imagination that they can crank out book after book without burning out.
However, that doesn’t mean every book is going to perform as well as others. It all comes down to whether the author is capable of engaging his or her audience within those words.
There is nothing wrong with you if you aren’t capable of keeping up with other authors. We all have our own progress and hit our strides at different paces. So, don’t feel like you’re worthless if you can’t crank out 2,000 words per day. Some of us just have a good flow and constantly practice to perfect our skills.
My point is that not all ideas for a story are going to hit right with the masses. Not every book is going to sell the same number of copies or be appreciated by the same readers. All we can really do is our best to tell a story we hope other people will love to read.
With that being said, there’s nothing wrong with getting it all kickstarted from external sources. There are a lot of factors that can hinder your creativity, such as stress. And sometimes, it’s easier to explore other methods to get the creative juices flowing before writing that epic tale you would love to create.
Unsolved Mysteries
One of my favorite methods to get story ideas is using unsolved mysteries and then filling in the blanks. That’s one of the best parts of being a fiction writer; you can make up anything as long as your audience can accept it as realistic or entertaining.
I’ve found unsolved mysteries to work exceptionally well for sci-fi and fantasy. However, a bit of imagination can easily incorporate them into any genre. Of course, that really depends on the mystery itself and how you’re able to spin it.
Take the Voynich Manuscript, for example. It’s a 600-year-old mysterious book that no one has yet to “demonstrably decipher.” It wouldn’t take much for me to put together a sci-fi tale involving a traveler from a different planet losing a book he had been working on of his home world. The reason no one can read it is because it’s in an alien language much different than anything on Earth.
The world is full of unsolved mysteries ranging from the realistic to the absurd. Sit down and watch a few shows on Netflix or YouTube and you’ll easily fill a notebook with ideas. From science fiction to the occult, let these mysteries be the backbone of that next brilliant story you plan to publish.
Essentially, the idea is that you’re explaining the mystery. Or, at least give your own theory as to why or how the mystery came about in the first place. In my example of the Voynich Manuscript, I’m explaining why the book exists while having a potential plot behind the alien visitor.
I would focus the story on the visitor and use the manuscript as either a subplot or an incidental prop in the book.
Historical References
Historical references can give you all kinds of ideas as well as a basis for a plot or subplot. In reality, historical events are used all the time in both books and movies. And despite people knowing the outcome, they can still draw an audience.
For example, take a look at Titanic from 1997. It’s quite common knowledge that the Titanic struck an iceberg and is now lying at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet, it was a high-grossing movie with many people watching it several times in the theaters. Why is that?
It had a unique spin on a historical event.
The movie, Titanic, wasn’t simply rehashing the same tale of a ship side-swiping a massive chunk of ice. In reality, the Titanic itself sinking was more or less the subplot as the story focused mostly on Jack and Rose’s relationship.
In my book, Shadows of Atlantic City, I used the sinking of the Powhattan off the coast of New Jersey to start the story. Of course, I added quite a bit of fiction to the happenings on the ship before it broke in two. Yet, the Powhattan laid the groundwork for the story to progress.
When you have an overactive imagination, there are a number of ways you can work history. As long as people know it’s a work of fiction, you can do just about anything to make an engaging and semi-accurate historical reference. There are a lot of points throughout history that could be easily incorporated into a great story. It all comes down to how well you weave it for your audience.
What Ifs
Out of the many methods for getting story ideas, one of my favorites is that of writing What Ifs. These are stories that center around answering a what-if question regarding a certain set of circumstances, usually ones that have already happened.
For example, a lot of people have written stories centering around what if Nazi Germany succeeded and won during World War II? I’ve written a story on Wattpad that answers the question of what if the Klingons never appeared and the Defiant was destroyed by the Dominion when Sisko went to retake Deep Space 9?
Yeah, I am a bit of a dork. But the fact remains that What Ifs can be a lot of fun to speculate given the facts of the situation. It’s true that a lot of it is based on conjecture and speculation. Nonetheless, some What Ifs are incredibly well-written and are quite feasible.
The drawback to writing a What If, though, is the fact that they often require a great deal of knowledge or research. You have to make the What If an accepted probability with your reader, which means making sure all of your facts are straight.
If your story is too far-fetched, it won’t be widely accepted and you’ll have a harder time selling it to a new reader, agent, or publisher.
Plot Generators and Writing Prompts
A great way to get in some practice writing is through plot generators and writing prompts. These can help get the creative juices going by giving you the basis of the story. All you need to do is add all of the other relevant information.
Plot generators and writing prompts are best used as practice or to help stir creativity. However, there’s nothing wrong with using them to spearhead a decent plot. It really depends on how well you can mold and shape what is given to you.
Every author is different. Even if two people were to get the exact same layout from a plot generator, the stories themselves would be wildly different. This is especially true if the two authors center around specific genres.
For example, a simple writing prompt can take an ultimately dark turn if written by a horror author as opposed to someone who focuses purely on children’s books. The darkness is one of the biggest reasons why I can’t write kid’s lit. Someone is going to die, and it’s usually a main character…and in a gruesome way.
At the end of the day, plot generators and writing prompts can be quite helpful for getting you going. The best part is that most of them are free to use at your leisure.
I’m still debating on writing an anthology of nothing but plots from a generator just to prove to myself that it can be done.
Unique Spin On Fictional Beings
What do vampires, Baba Yaga, fairies, mermaids, and elves have in common? Well, aside from the obvious, they are all some of the most modified fictional beings. In that, I mean authors have long put their own unique spin on creatures, myths, and legends.
How many ways do you know how to kill a vampire thanks to the different conceptions of varying authors? Some will sparkle in the sunlight while others are only affected by silver.
My point is that there is nothing wrong with taking a fictional creature and putting your own spin on it. This has been done for literally centuries, depending on the audience.
In Shadows of Atlantic City, I have a creature that is well beyond the norm for its type. Will some people point out issues with the changes I’ve made? Probably. However, I focused on making it unique and my own.
It’s fiction…they can get over it.
Your Life Experiences
Never assume that your life is dull. We all have experiences that might be of interest to certain readers. In fact, my first book, A Freelancer’s Tale, is essentially a breakdown of everything I did to become a full-time freelance writer while dealing with severe depression.
Of course, autobiographies and memoirs are best suited for audiences who know who you are or are interested in those specific situations. In my case, I had a bit of interest in how I started writing from those who watch the YouTube channel.
Nonetheless, everyone has life experiences that could prove beneficial for story ideas. And they all don’t need to have successful or happy endings. Truth be told, a lot of people like to read about failures and ways to overcome them. For some, it’s a way to connect on a personal level to show that the reader is not alone.
On the other side of the coin, though, you have to make sure the story is interesting to the reader. If you have three chapters of you sitting on your ass on the couch without doing much, you’re going to lose your audience. That is unless you can somehow deliver an entertaining vibe without moving from a single location.
Here is a great example of this; one of my favorite movies is Phone Booth. The whole movie is about a guy trapped in a booth by a sniper who talks to him over the phone. It is the story and dialogue that make it amazing without a lot of action.
Exploring Fan Fiction
Fan fiction is not only a great way to flex your writing muscles through practice, but it could also help you build an audience on various platforms like Wattpad or Inkitt. In my case, I mixed fan fiction with a what-if when I wrote Star Trek: Beginning of the End.
Although I wrote that story as part of a science fiction contest, I plan on expanding it into an entire book. Besides, I wrote Beginning of the End long before I learned so much about writing in general. I would love to polish up the story.
The nice thing about using fan fiction for story ideas is the fact that the world and characters are already created for you. As long as you’re true to the source material, there’s a lot you can write.
Perhaps the only real drawback to fan fiction is that of pissing off the fans.
I suggest writing short fan fiction quite often for new writers, especially on free-to-use platforms that won’t propagate a lawsuit. It’s a great form of practice to figure out what works best for you without putting a lot of thought into character and world-building.
I mean, you’ll still have to research the world in which you write. But it’s not nearly as in-depth and detailed as creating an entire world on your own.
Dreams at Night
I know a lot of people who have written books based on their dreams. In fact, my Mom’s dream prompted her to write Defiant Souls.
My sister’s book, Quest Holders, was driven by a dream as well.
The only problem I have with trying to get story ideas from dreams is remembering to write them down. I’ve had a few vivid tales play out in my mind but never remember to grab a dream journal or notebook.
Sure, some dreams are just goofy and may require quite a bit of tweaking to write a comprehensible plot. But it’s possible as long as you let your imagination run away with you a bit.
If you want to try to induce vivid dreams, you can always monitor what you eat. Food often plays a role in how our minds process information while we sleep. While foods may not always kickstart vivid dreaming, there are all kinds of things to eat that may induce some realistic dreams.
One of the experiments I am planning for the near future is the effectiveness of those foods. However, I am almost certain that this is more of a personal thing as not everyone is affected the same way by certain nutrition.
People-Watching
Although some might find it a bit creepy, people-watching has been a hobby of many for years. In some cases, reality is far more intriguing and stranger than fiction.
To use people-watching to get story ideas, essentially you’re trying to fill in the blanks of what the individuals are doing. For example, let your imagination run wild as you see a construction worker exit a Starbucks with a hot coffee on a summer’s day.
Why does he prefer hot coffee in the summer? Perhaps he was trying to give himself an alibi after killing and burying a co-worker. Or, maybe you want to write a romance and the construction worker has a crush on the barista.
People can often inspire a plethora of ideas for any niche. It really comes down to the type of story you want to write and whether you can add enough detail to really flesh it out.
It’s almost like using a plot generator, but it’s real life instead of on a computer screen. Besides, people-watching will give you a reason to get out of the house. You never know who you’ll meet while getting inspired to write your next best seller.
Flexing Creative Muscle With Various Story Ideas
No one said that you have to publish everything you write. I know a lot of people who have written countless tales that will never see the light of day. There’s nothing wrong with that practice. In fact, running with a random story idea, even if it’s only 3,000 words long, can be great for getting the creative juices flowing for something more serious.
It’s one of the reasons why I plan on still writing free books on Wattpad and Inkitt. Not only will this help me build an audience of those who may enjoy my books, but it’s a great way to get into the flow of creating something.
One of the most popular exercises for people who have writer’s block is to work on something else. It gives you a chance to take a break from your story while cranking up your creativity. This is why a lot of plot generators and writing prompts exist, actually.
It’s never a waste of time to work on a story that you don’t intend to publish. You may even find yourself writing a spin-off from that manuscript that winds up being a best seller. Writing in any capacity is always ideal, especially when you consider the amount of practice you’ll get from the experience.
After all, they say “Practice makes perfect,” right? Although I don’t believe perfection exists, keeping practiced is how you become better at your craft. This is true whether you’re writing a non-fiction book or striving to be a running back for the Denver Broncos.
Practice, practice, practice.
While you’re probably not aiming to play at Carnegie Hall, it would be kind of nice to see your book next to a popular author’s title at Barnes & Noble.
If I find myself stuck on a certain part of the book, I’ll skip ahead in the outline and write those sections out. Truth be told, I wrote the ending of Kingmaker before I even started chapter one. That’s because I had an idea of how I wanted the story to end.
Sure, I had to go back and polish the ending quite a bit depending on what happened in the story. But the framework was there for what I was aiming for throughout the novel.
My point is that there’s nothing wrong with writing the book out of order if you need to keep the flow going. I often skip around in all of my books and then spend time tying everything together.
What Story Ideas Are You Writing About?
We all get inspiration through different mediums. Yes, some things are almost universal for getting story ideas. However, it doesn’t mean they’ll all work the same for you as they do for someone else.
I suggest trying different methods, even if you don’t think they’ll work. Just try to keep an open mind when you do so. If you already have a negative view of something, it’s going to taint your experience. All you’ll be looking for is the negative element you perceived in the beginning.
Perhaps you could try writing a short story, maybe about 1,000 words, of every method I listed earlier. Which one of those methods helped inspire story ideas better than the others?
Remember, a good book is subjective. Don’t try to put too much emphasis on making it a “good” book or story. Everyone has a unique perspective as to what a good book is, after all.
Write the story you want to tell.
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