Hi everyone, I see a lot of posts of people looking for inspiration; for something to write about. Sometimes, you just get stuck behind that hard place known as writers block that you feel has you pinned against a rock. I come up with several ideas for stories each week through several methods. Unfortunately, many of them suck. Remember that! A lot of what you come up with will suck. The first thing you absolutely must do is understand that and embrace it. Laugh at yourself when you've come up with crap and move on from it. In fact, I liken this process to meeting women. A lot of men are nervous when meeting women because they are afraid of rejection. You cannot be nervous about making junk and about whether others will like your idea or reject it. Being confident about this will allow you to come up with many ideas that you can pick and choose from to flesh stories around. Here are some techniques that I use to come up with ideas. (Note: That when i say ideas, I don't only mean ideas for a story, but also for ideas on how to turn your concept into a real story with an engaging beginning, middle, and end.) 1.SLEEP ON IT- That's right. Sleep. Sleep not only allows your brain to refuel and be at its best which helps you to be more creative, but it also is where you dream. Nearly half of my ideas come from dreams. When in REM sleep, your deepest creativity is not constrained by the complex filters that exist in your brain from logic to societal standards. Your brain soars to new heights and there literally is no limit to your imagination when sleeping. The problem for me, as with many, is that you forget your dreams come morning. To combat this, I simply write the important details of my dreams at night, and in the morning I will be able to piece the story together and formulate a coherent idea. I also take melatonin. This hormone is created by the pineal gland in the human brain. In addition to being a powerful antioxidant, which helps protect DNA, it is an important player in the Circadian Rhythm that we find our internal clocks set to. Therefore it helps to promote sleep and more coherent dreaming. I am an insomniac, so I require melatonin to sleep and prefer it over Ambien or Lunesta. It is completely natural, as opposed to the latter two products, but if you are concerned about putting anything in your body that is not at all necessary, then there are certainly other steps... 2.WATCH AND SQUASH- Sounds weird right? Think of it this way. Watch several movies, play several games, read several books, or any combination there in. Take those ideas and put them into a blender in your mind. Ask yourself, "What will happen if I mix these ideas?". Often the resulting product will be surprisingly unique. It can give you a templete for a universe that has the feel of some of your favorite literature, but is completely original. Try it. I came up with one of my favorite ideas this way. From there, I took several other concepts and came up with unique ways to flesh out the story that further sets mine apart from any other out there. 3.RELAX, IT WILL COME TO YOU- Sometimes, the best ideas I come up with hit me when I least expect it. I like to relax, possibly sit outside on a covered porch while it rains, and listen to it. I really enjoy thunder and lightning, believe it or not, and they really calm me down. I go out to listen, not intending to come up with any ideas; my mission is simply to listen. This frees your mind to wander. When you sit and purposely try to come up with ideas, you wear your mind out and become frustrated. Just let it wander and you will stumble onto some gems. 4.ACCOUNTABILITY- Yes, you have your self to "blame" for the ideas that you come up with. Don't ask for help because only you can help yourself. You can look for help in published literature as stated in number 1, but don't ask someone to come up with ideas for you, or to work on your ideas that you are having trouble fleshing out. This will distance you from your work and cause you to experience a widening gap between your work and your creativity. This will make it even harder to come up with ideas in the future and will create a vicious circle of sorts. just trust in yourself and the ideas will flow. 5.LAY DOWN AND CLOSE YOUR EYES- This is closely related to the first idea and is probably the most important concept. Coupled with number 1, the two make up 90% of the method to my madness(idea making). This works so well for me because I am an insomniac. Therefore, this idea will work best for those who have trouble falling asleep. My mind races when I close my eyes and lay down on my bed. It goes all over the place as I day dream. I can't help but let it wander where it may. I often come up with ideas this way, but I find that this method is best for fleshing out an idea that I already have. I am writing a game script that will be nearly 800 pages when complete. Nearly 95 percent of the story came to me in the early hours of the morning. I personified characters from my story in my mind. I put them in a battle, or in a secret cave of some sort, or in a spaceship and I let them do what they wanted to do. I let the battle take place, explosions, deaths and all. I let the characters explore the cave in my mind, or walk through the spaceship. Suddenly, my brain made something interesting happen. It threw a twist into the mix, and suddenly, a giant monster appeared on the battlefield, a new enemy. Or suddenly a secret passage or ancient markings were found in the cave. Suddenly the spaceship was attacked by a brand new race that had just been birthed in my mind. It is amazing what you will come up with when doing this. I will add more suggestions as I think of them! [Edited by - XoADreadnought on October 28, 2009 11:06:54 AM]

I, surprisingly, did not see the sticky with advice for writers looking for inspiration. I suppose, the more advice the merrier.

Not everyone is a professional writer, however. And professional writers often become such because they are capable of overcoming these obstacles or avoiding them in the first place. For everyone else however, it is not always feasible to write for four hours in the morning. Many of us have jobs that support our writing habits, and not a writing job that supports our life. For this great majority, the advice here is quite helpful.

You also make it sound as if this advice is useless because I assume to much. I feel as though you assume to much about the time we all have and the degree of discipline we may or may not have. You don't have to like these ideas. They are a take it or leave it proposition. And they won't work for everyone, obviously. But then, nothing will ever work universally among all people. We are too unique.