Where do stories come from?

Ideas are funny things. They seem to pop out of nowhere, or sometimes come about as the result of a life event, seeing a film, reading a book, taking a walk in the woods. Sometimes they have a transitory existence, forgotten almost before they enter your consciousness. Sometimes they solidify, grow into a plan, a movement, a programme, philosophy, doctrine, religion. Let's not worry about all that though. We are writers and as writers we love to turn the best ideas into stories. But where to find them?

The idea for this story came from two Vocal Creators: Kendall Defoe and Rachel Robbins. In particular the idea came from conversations around their respective stories, linked below. Please take a look at their work and let them know what you think. Do you agree that their work is inspirational?

Reading other creators' work, as well as my own, I sometimes wonder where the idea for the story first started. Sometimes I recall where the notion for one of my tales came from and sometimes not. Sometimes I can see what inspired another author's story and sometimes not. On which basis I thought it would be good to try to draw up a list of story idea go-to sources for future use and reference. What do you think? Please let me know what yours are and I will gladly add them to the list.

Not necessarily in order of importance:

Life in general

The great outdoors

Art, especially paintings

Music

Books and literature

History

Film and TV

Science or other fields of study

Relationships

THEFT!

Life in general

The highs, the lows, the good times, the bad, the struggle. Yes, the struggle is the key to turning life into a story. Life is never easy if you take it as a whole. Birth is painful, growing up is tough (more so for some than others) and then you fall in love. The most painful feeling I can ever imagine. If a doctor asks "does it hurt?" my first thought is always: Not as much as a broken heart. Whether we have a happy life or not, whether love be good to us or not, life is full of events, emotions, journeys and, if you think about it, all stories come from life in one way or another.

Need a good story idea from life? Just think back through the last 24 hours of your own existence, or go back a year, or to childhood. You have all your own life's stories to inspire you.

The great outdoors

Many great writers have said how they sought inspiration from a walk in the fresh air. It's an obvious place to go if you need to clear the mind and focus on the job in hand, including that story you are struggling to produce. But this article is about converting what you see, what you experience, into a story. So taking a walk, run, ride, or sail out into the open may free up your mind, but what about actual ideas for a story? Well, I guess that comes from observation. Keep your eyes peeled, consult your senses, and look for the small things in the world as well as the big. Focus on the detail.

Take some photographs, use your phone if you have no other camera. Not just big landscapes, also take pictures of flowers, bugs, fungi, a piece of litter spoiling that well-kept flower bed. When you are back in your favorite writing space, go through the pictures to recall the journey in wide frame and close up. If that doesn't give you ideas to write about nothing will. If nothing else, post that litter in the flower bed pic as a featured image on Vocal and then think of a story to write about it.

Art

If a picture paints 1,000 words...

Some people seem to be intimidated by art. They think that art is for intellectuals, requires some knowledge or understanding to appreciate it. No, no, no, no, no! If you see a portrait, it is a portrait. If you see a picture of a field, some trees and a stream, it is a landscape, though what you call it is not important. If you want to find something in it to write a story about, just spend five minutes looking at the picture and thinking about what else you can see. Who is the person in the portrait or where is the place that inspired the landscape?

Check out the story of the The Rider above. A lone man rides a skeleton. Why? Where is he going? Does he have an appointment with death?

Tracey Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, was written after the author spent many years looking at a poster copy of an old portrait painting and wondering who the model was. She then wrote a book about it that sold millions. What could be more obvious than looking at a portrait and then making up a story about the person, known or unknown, portrayed? Sorry Tracy, I don't mean to decry your writing talent, I am simply trying to point out that story ideas need not be hard to find.

BTW, if you are reading this article before the end of August 2024, please consider entering the Girl with a Golden Earring challenge.

Music

Listening to music, songs in particular, can often provide us with some ideas for that next story. Songs capture the imagination. The musical background to the lyrics often add to the emotion.

I recently wrote a poem after I heard a line from a song I had never heard (or perhaps never noticed) before. I can't remember the song but I remembered a line about being in love with someone who doesn't know you are in love with them. This is the story of Cyrano de Bergerac. Look it up if you don't know it. This article is already too long to explain.

The important thing is that the line 'I'm in love with a girl who'll never know' stuck with me. The song didn't and I still don't know what song it came from. On the basis of a quick search, it might have been 'Looking Out for You' by Joy Again. Or it might not. The point is, the subject of the song gave me an idea for a poem, which I wrote soon after writing down the line, which appears to be a misquote from the song, but otherwise captures the emotion as I felt it listening to the snippet of music.

I'm in love with a girl who'll never know

Why not listen to a few songs and jot down some ideas for stories you could write?

Books and literature

See also "Theft" below. Everyone is influenced by what they know and what they have read. But inspiration comes not just from the story we read about in our favorite novel, it also comes from the story we don't read. Like the story of how Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz came to be so timid. Or the story of Judas growing up and wanting to do something truly memorable. How about the story of how Juliet and Romeo got on as a married couple, having survived the dangerous liaison of their youth? You see what I mean? Every story leaves so many stories untold. There just isn't space. There's also the straight lift, again see 'Theft' below. We have all done it... be honest now. Fess up!

History

History is just that... a story. A story from the past. Is it true? The assumption is that a story in a history book is true but if you make any real study of history you will soon come to realise that much of what is in the history books is just made up. A bit like fiction except that fiction does not masquerade as fact.

To write a story inspired by history you don't need to do a huge amount of research. Perhaps none at all as we all know stories from history. What about the one where a young George Washington cuts down his father's tree? That sounds to me like an entirely made-up story but whether it is or it isn't, you could easily write a story about someone destroying something that a loved one loves. Doesn't even need to be set in the past.

Or you could go the whole hog and research your subject and your era and come up with a tale from the past that has enough fact in it to give it the necessary authenticity. You don't need to have total historic accuracy, you just need enough detail to make the story ring true for a largely ill-informed audience. A sleight of hand if you like.

Film and TV

As a source, I find film and TV much stronger than books. Visual media stimulate my foggy brain far more than reading, which is more likely to make me sleepy. But the principles are pretty much the same.

Science

Sci-fi is nerdy rubbish, right? Read by the intense type who has probably either been involved in science or wishes they were clever enough to be a scientist. But you don't have to write a sci-fi because you find a scientific phenomenon that's interesting. And you don't have to make a sci-fi boring, unreadable and nerdy either. And how scientifically accurate does sci-fi need to be anyway?

You know that jogging around the donut scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey? Sure you do, the astronaut is doing his daily workout by running around the outer rim of the donut-shaped spaceship chamber, which is rotating majestically but fast enough to generate sufficient gravity that he can walk as if he were on Earth. A ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! That would never work. Does anyone care? No!

Nobody reading a sci-fi wants a science paper just like nobody reading historical fiction wants a history lesson. We always want the same thing, which is a great story, great characters, and great drama.

Relationships

Do I need say more? We all have relationships, in the broader sense of the word, as well as those of the sexual / romantic kind. Some go well, some go badly. We can all wish they went better and so as authors we have the power to make it so. Or make them go worse. Just remember to change the names, the time, the place and just about anything that can be used to identify the culprits. They may not forgive you for misusing any of their life story without permission.

Last and certainly not least:

Theft

Some people shudder at the thought of theft, others revel in the desire to acquire something that does not belong to them, and at no cost. Put that moral objection (or delight in immorality) aside for a moment. If you can't steal a good story, you will never be a writer. Let me say that again:

If you can't steal a story, you will never be a good writer

I will deal with the question of how and why to steal a story in a separate article that I am working on. If you want to know more:

Watch this space for how and why to steal a story

Suffice to say that when it comes to ideas, pretty much all of them have already been done and been copied (stolen) time and time again, through the ages. You have probably done this without even realising it. If you want to find out what I mean, please look out for my next article on this subject.

Until then, thanks for reading and happy writing!

The ten go-to ideas places listed above are not exhaustive. Where do you go to find ideas for your next great story? Please comment and let me know.