How many stories? Fantasy or otherwise?

I have around 50-75, although some of them don't even have good plots developed yet.

Lol. I only have about fourty-some on my computer. But I have no idea how many there were on our old one. *sheepish look*

So I'm not the only one addicted to writing A TON.

I know of 10 stories off of the top of my head, but there are a lot more that are buried deeper.

No, you are not.


What inspires most of your stories?

My friends & I have brainstormed quite a few of them! Some are single scenes, characters or types of stories that I think of and then the story kind of forms around them.

Strangely enough, one of the biggest inspirations for me is dreams. The First Arrow is inspired by a dream I had of Nat, Ti & Erynne talking at a table in an Inn (hence the scene with Arek that I have posted here). Many of them are inspired by dreams of a certain scene or character and the story I built around that.

What about you?

Dreams are one of my main inspirations. I like to try to remember my dreams and then figure out a story about them. I get some of my best ideas that way.

I get most of my inspiration from dreams I have while I'm listening to Celtic music.

Wow...so dreams aren't a wierd way to be inspired! Jay, I know what you mean; I do that too.

I originally counted eleven stories that I knew of in Ithelak, and so I voted accordingly. But then after reading what Liagiba posted, I realized that I definitely had well over 50. That is because for every character, name, mountain, plain, continent, nation, or city in Ithelak, I have a scene or story behind it.

Wow. I'll have to count up my stories. So, do random scenes and character descriptions count? And short stories? What about finished stories? Sorry for grilling you, I'm obsessive-compulsive and live in fear of imperfection (slight exaggeration ). But, yeah, I used to get story ideas from dreams, too. Some of my best, actually. It makes me wish that I could consciously use my subconscious, if that makes sense. Actually, a couple different dreams gave me ideas for two races in my story, Dains and Wild-Makers (those are the names that were in the dreams. I did not make them up. Well, maybe I did, but not consciously...)
But yes, dreams are useful, and cool poll!

I didn't have any real stories going (I know, shocking) until last week. But now I have one. It is rather strange. And interesting. And different from any other story I have read.

It is based on a talk that my brother Josiah and I had one Sunday afternoon several weeks ago. About rain drops. Giant ones. Very fascinating conversation, actually. If you have any brothers, go talk to them. I can assure you it will be interesting.

Anyway.

I may or may not finish it. And it may or may not be any good. And I may or may not share it with you all. I guess we'll have to wait and see, eh?

Oh, please DO post some! You've got my mind running circles, wondering about the story that is about raindrops. It sounds wonderful. I love raindrops. Can you give me a hint about the plot?

I can think of three stories right now that I've started. Actually I won't start the third until next month but anywho...
The first I originally based on my life somewhat, but later I completely redid the story and made it into a Christian allegory instead. It still stunk. XD
The second, I was bored at the time. I started by describing a valley, but then I added two people walking in the moonlight, and it became an Elven romance story. I haven't worked on it much, though.
The third I am doing for NaNoWriMo this year.

What is your third one about, Sapphira?

A girl named Nicole who finds out she is an Elf when she unexpectedly meets her twin sister in the woods. When she was a baby, the Dark Elves attacked the Elves and she was hidden near a house. Her mother died, and her father found his other three children (her twin sister and two brothers... who may or may not be twins, I haven't decided), but the family living in the house found Nicole and brought her in. They didn't know her name, so they named her Nicole. She doesn't believe the Elf when she hears the story, so she doesn't follow her, but she gets kidnapped later (or just convinced to go, I'm, not sure yet) and meets her father and brothers. They hear the Dark Elves are planning on another attack, and they try to get ready, but the only thing that will really keep them safe is faith in God. The problem is that they don't believe there is a God. They think nature is self-controlling, pretty much. She has to convince them God is real, especially her father. The thing is that he is the one who will be the hardest to convince.

That sounds really interesting! I used to have this thing about twins...like half of my main characters were twins.

haha, nice
This is actually the first story I've thought of that had twins. It just seemed to work, because otherwise she wouldn't even consider being related to the other girl... whom I still have to name :P
I haven't name any of the Elves yet.

Sounds really interesting! Is your world mostly populated by elves, or is it more of a...well, mixed type place?:)

Elves, Dark Elves, and Men (humans) inhabit the world, and possibly other creatures that aren't mentioned (although the Dark Elves may use dragons... I haven't decided), but mostly Elves will be mentioned.

I said 10-20, but I probably have more somewhere! I only have three that I'm actually writing right now though.

I've been inspired by pictures before, or I just randomly think of something! One of mine was inspired because a movie I watched had a shapeshifter (Sky High. I know it's lame, but one of my favorite stories came from it! lol).
I don't think I've ever been inspired by a dream... maybe I've been inspired without knowing it.

I agree with you, Duchess Daisy, you can get some very interesting ideas from brothers!

Unfortunately, my little brother has no imagination except for how to make guns. Yeah. I'm usually the one that comes up with the crazy (hare-brained) ideas in my family.

I'm probably the only one in my family that makes up crazy stuff, too. Although my oldest little brother can be surprising sometimes :P

I'm not sure why I got into fantasy... neither of my parents read that much, especially fiction. And my siblings are all younger and don't read at all if they don't have to.

Same here, Saphira. My mother never reads fiction, and my dad usually reads just what I suggest (Tom Clancy, Ted Dekker, Lahaye, & Peretti).

I know why you got into fantasy. Because it's the most totally awesome genre around! (except for the Bible, obviously)

I agree. Although I forgot to mention my other favorite genre...THRILLER.

Mmmm...I still think Fantasy tops EVEN Thriller! (I'll take Tolkien over Ted Dekker. It's close, but I still like Tolkien better. )

Me too. Thrillers are a close second, though. Dekker's pretty awesome. He's my second favorite writer, to Tolkein!

Right on!

In my experience, it's possible to write a Fantasy Thriller. (E.I. The Circle Trilogy.)

LOL! TRUE. Although I would call it more sci-fi...

I don't know how many books ideas I have right now. (I haven't counted recently). I would guess 10-20, but it could be more.

Ooooh boy, well let's see here...

I'd say I have about 7-8 stories (none are finished except two short stories that will be expanded at a later time and inspiration...) I do a lot of other random writing that just had to do with scenes and characters that don't belong anywhere right now, or scenes I just write down when I listen to a song and then my thoughts are, "Hm, this is a nice song--*gasp* there's a cool book scene! *write, write, write*". I had one of those moments 2 days ago.