How do you think up great plot ideas?

[SugarRos]

I love plots.

It sounds silly saying it, (the sound of the words), but I really do. With no plot I'm left bored. I think more than reading a good plot, I love coming up with a good plot.

How do you think up great plot ideas? By reading yourself? By watching TV or movies? By real-life occurrences?

I tend to turn a mediocre plot into something amazing, simply by talking to someone about it. Sometimes they don't even have to answer, simply saying it out loud to someone will spark an idea or a change that makes the plot a million times better.  

[edward_sledge]

I don't know if my plots are all that great, but they can come from anywhere--books, TV, movies, music, real life. Most of my stories are more about the characters. What would such-and-such a character do in this situation?

I used to tell my sister about my plots, but then she went away to college and it's not the same talking on the phone. crying So mostly I just keep my stories to myself now. It actually helps get me writing, because now if I want to share them, I have to write them down.  

[SugarRos]

Oh no, there's no one else you can talk to about your plots?

I don't know what I'd do without Holly and Ninjadan. Both friends of mine who let me just info dump 'em with my plot ideas. At the moment my story is very plot-driven, although I'm hoping I can balance it out a bit in the editing stage.

XD  

[edward_sledge]

Not really. I have a couple of friends who will listen if I'm really general, but if I start talking M/M romance or sex, they don't want to hear it, and those are a big part of my books.

I don't think not talking about them has hurt me much. More than once, I'd start talking about a half-formed plot idea, realize it sounded stupid, and trash it. Now, the ideas get to fully develop before I turn them into something as concrete as words.  

[starsmaycollide]

It usually just springs at me- I can be looking at a picture, zoning out while attempting math homework, zoning out in class, zoning out while I'm walking from place to place (I'm beginning to notice a theme), about to fall asleep, but it's mainly when I'm supposed to be doing something else that I can concentrate the best. I think the whole allure of procrastination somehow helps the writing process for me.  

[thomlina]

i usally get an idea when i am supposed to be foucued on something. but usally lose the idea when i can't write it down. sometimes i will remenber it after. smile  

[11linda]

probably not the smartest, but i always make up my stories as I go... they actually turn out pretty good most of the time.  

[Nightmare1]

With me, it is a matter of putting pieces together. For example, one of my situations involved getting a long-lost toy to a specific place to be retrieved by its owner later. Said owner would literally be unable to come back for years, and the country was currently in a war. My solution?

Make the doll haunted.

This allowed it to move on its own and helped to preserve it. It also added a certain depth to the story considering which character ended up possessing the doll when he died. This in turn added to his relationship with the doll's owner, which in turn added another layer to his murder which in turn added more layers to both the murderer and the owner, and helped me tie more loose ends involving them.

It is like a hydra: fix one part of the plot, many more "heads" of possibilities open up. It is just a matter of knowing which heads to keep growing, and which heads to burn to stunt their growth after that.  

[DesertRoseFallen]

edward_sledge

Not really. I have a couple of friends who will listen if I'm really general, but if I start talking M/M romance or sex, they don't want to hear it, and those are a big part of my books.

I don't think not talking about them has hurt me much. More than once, I'd start talking about a half-formed plot idea, realize it sounded stupid, and trash it. Now, the ideas get to fully develop before I turn them into something as concrete as words.

Haha I have to agree with you there Edward. All my friends are guys and all are straight, so they hate me talking about my M/M fiction. Therefore I have no one to talk about with plot lines.

As for where these plots come from, it's mostly reading or historical things I find interesting. However, more often, the ideas just pop into my mind for no reason.

 

[Racheling]

I'm reading a book on crime in London in the 1800s, and one of the books I'm working on suddenly got a whole lot seedier. The male love interest has gone from being admittedly a bit too boring and nice, to being part of some much sketchier stuff.

Of course, this also means the plot is heading through the workings of the city's underworld and I need to scrap some of what I've done and rework it. But it'll be good. I knew something wasn't going quite right, and I think this is the answer.

I love reading nonfiction, especially very specific books on aspects of history. I think it can really help with plotting.  

[Nefas Fatum]

12-4am, Wednesday and Sunday nights.

See, a few of us get together for dinner and drinks those two nights and sooner.. wait.. later.. talk gets to character creation/plot outlines.

Bouncing ideas off equally tired/drunk people means that most plot holes get patched then and there, and additional information that is absolutely not necessary, gets added into the mix.

The hard part comes the next day when (despite having promised we'd all have an early night, we need to be awake) the plot needs to be turned into a story.  

[Raindrop Memories]

SugarRos

By reading yourself? By watching TV or movies?

This.

So many times have I gotten amazing ideas from Buffy, or Charmed, or... ahaha. xD  

[Arlingtonn]

Most of my ideas come from watching movies, cause I watch them ALL THE TIME.

But I dont really develop new plots anymore cause I'm so focused on one, and have been for two years.

I'm always getting little ideas here and there, but I ignore them caues I know I would never follow through. Does that make me sound uncreative?  

[Scipio243]

I usually just stick to a pretty basic plot - plot usually derived from mixed movies and TV to create inspiration - and keep that really basic plot going. From there, I'll just write and think about the story constantly. The plot doesn't really change, I just get exciting stuff to happen while going from point A to point B.

If you've ever read Lloyd Alexander (The Black Cauldron) I write like him... characters are going for one basic goal, but get sucked into things on their way to it.  

[Victoria of Aragon]

A lot of my ideas for plots come from dreams I have. Couple that with an obsesion toward music, and a few scenes gradually start to form, and then I just go from there.

I've got a fantasy plot that I'm struggling with right now. Pretty much the only plot I have right now is: "He seems like a good guy, but he's really not. He eventually has to die." The rest of it is pretty character driven - pretty much a breif recap of a few of the character's lives until they meet up with this guy. It's giving me some problems.