by Robert Lambert

Created on: March 07, 2010

One of the most common questions asked of any writer is probably where they get their ideas. The creation of a new idea is seen by many as a sort of mystical event, where an author can strain for days trying in vain to come up with an idea, until sometime after they've already given up they're struck by insight by a generous muse. I have heard many times that you cannot consciously create an idea, that one must simply come to you, usually when you least expect it.

I would be shocked if any author claimed that they had never experienced this sort of unbidden revelation, where they were surprised by an idea that they weren't even trying to think of. However, there is no magic to creating a story idea, and it can be done much more easily by conscious effort than by hoping for random inspiration.

Perhaps the easiest method for acquiring a story idea is simple copying. Take an idea that you enjoyed from another story and use it for your own. I would wager that this is the source of the vast majority of literary ideas, and it is a proven method for breaking writer's block. I understand and share other writers' desire to be original, but it is also important not to let the fear of being unoriginal stop you from writing. A finished story is better than no story at all, however original or not it is.

Furthermore, taking another's ideas can actually help your originality rather than hinder it. If you use someone else's idea as a starting point, you can modify their ideas and put your own spin on them. Keep the essential parts of the idea that excite you, but make the rest your own. If you loved Tolkien's idea of a ring that turns its wearer invisible, you can take that idea and still make an original story, because you are a different person from Tolkien, with different experiences and beliefs. Any story you write will be essentially yours, even if the ideas are not. And one ought to remember that the idea for such a ring was actually not Tolkien's, but Plato's. Even the literary giants borrowed ideas. Surely it isn't beneath the rest of us.

As an addendum to this, copying doesn't apply only to fiction. Reality is sometimes an even better source of ideas. Not just your own life, but your friends' and family's lives. History and current events are wonderful sources of ideas as well. If you're interested in a particular place or time or historical figure, try to use that for a story idea. Other types of media, from music to visual art to video games, can all

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