This is a fun thread I'd have to say I'm like you. I just dream up possibilities at night when I can't sleep. I also get inspiration from other books. The only problem with that is that I don't want to copy it.

My problem is I dream up possibilities when I probably can sleep. Here's how it goes. I get it in bed, close my eyes and BAM! my mind is working. I have to intentionally be like, "Laura, go to sleep! Stop this story making!"

And I totally understand where you're coming from about the copying thing! I want to make a story my own, but there are so many great ideas out there done by other people.

Yes! And I don't want to steal any ideas

So true! Definitely not the God honoring thing to do, and besides that, things could get messy.

I get ideas in the grocery store and when I'm watching math videos. And at one a.m.when I'm "sleeping"

I get ideas in the grocery store and when I'm watching math videos. And at one a.m.when I'm "sleeping"

I just got this picture of you standing in the grocery store and exclaiming, fist raised, "I know what they shall be called!" Only you and Jesus know what's going on in your head...everyone else thinks you're crazy.

Dreams, definitely...with my current WIP, I drew a map and developed a plotline from the map and a character web. It all depends. Or sometimes I am randomly inspired by some little thing I read about, see in a movie or experience first hand and decide to incorporate that as the main plot point in a story.

The book I'm writing right now began when I was talking to a friend of mine about sympathy, and a 'what if' question came into my head. I think it most often happens like that, though sometimes I get ideas from dreams or late night wakefulness too. Another thing I do is chase down inspiration with a club.... Sometimes I don't have an idea (or the right idea), and I have a handful of techniques I use for finding one when one doesn't come. It's fun.

I think it's great getting inspiration from other stories.... One way to be original (and not get into trouble either ) is to ask yourself 'what if it didn't go like that?' You know... you use a bit of the story, but when it gets to a key point, you make it happen a different way, and swap some things around, and have it all come out completely different. I've done that a few times before.

how did you know that is what I do?

I can now imagine you running after inspiration waving a club

As for the difficulty of copying....it isn't plagiarism if you are inspired by the idea of that author or screenwriter....if you get the idea but totally change it up, its different...that way you are stealing anything

Divine Revelation

That's what it feels like. I am an experienced inspiration hunter.

Sometimes I take an interesting concept and turn it into a setting, and then the story comes afterwards. Like a couple years ago I thought "What if all my characters were named after the Hebrew letters?" And I added that to the idea of elemental dragons, and a story emerged.

For me, God usually gives me ideas when I'm working, watching a movie, or reading a book. I get a lot from watching movies. And then when I get a good idea for a story, I'll stay awake at night until all the pieces fit together.

I just love getting ideas when they come out of nowhere. Last night, that happened to me right before bedtime.

And then when I get a good idea for a story, I'll stay awake at night until all the pieces fit together.

How long does that take?

Haha! I love this mental image. My Neighbor is running around in her front yard brandishing a huge knobbled club as she tries to catch a frightened little exhausted inspiration-bunny. XD

I should try that sometime.

That depends. If it's really good and I'm flowing with it, I'll just play it through my head for three hours or so until I get too tired and fall asleep.

I'm finding more and more recently that I can't just lay awake developing stories at night because my brain is desperate to remember them and it keeps repeating the ideas over and over and over and it won't let me sleep. So I have to get up and write them down to make it stop.

Three hours... I can't focus that long ...not even for my stories