How do you come up with stories?

[cyberdreamz]

I hope this post makes sense? I feel like I'm struggling with expressing my thoughts coherently today. Well, in any case, here goes:

Every once in a blue moon I get a new story idea and write it down in my notes app, but it basically never gets any further development. This is something I'd like to work on, I want my art to actually have some meaning to it rather than just drawing a cute cat looking at the camera for the 1000th time. But it can be so hard coming up with new stuff and I'm never sure where to even start with that!...

Since I've been studying animation professionally I *have* to think of story ideas and actually finish them, I have already done a couple of films, so that's at least something, but even now as I think about my upcoming thesis film I'm struggling to explore the story any further than my initial idea.
Visual art is a lot easier for me since I already have a structure in mind: thumbnail if needed, sketch, lineart, colors, shading and some finishing touches like textures or overlays. But when it comes to writing I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing... My mind just goes blank @__@ It's like a miracle every time I actually manage to write something.

So... I've been curious what the process of making stories/worlds/characters is like for other people. How do you get your ideas or inspiration and how do you go about developing them further? Tell me what stories you're working on at the moment if you want to!

[Rubbereon]

There are 5 ways I come up with stories.

• From my dreams
• From art/animation/music/games that inspire me
• From comments or other stories that inspire me
• While I'm warm from alcohol or doing some jogging my brain tends to work faster in those conditions not sure why, maybe ADHD

The last one is hard to explain like I can't really explain it here, so I'll just say that it's when I'm having fantasies basically, I generally come up with scenarios in my head and sometimes I bother to write then down or draw them, but yeah those fantasies don't come naturally. Best way I can describe it.

[Xyphien]

For me it's dreams. Almost all of my stories are from dreams I've had, and then I'll take what I remember, fill in the blanks and expand on it if need be.

[Maddy!]

Now this seems like an interesting topic for me!

I've never actually sat down and decided to start constructing a story. For me, coming up with stories is like a reccuring and natural process of elimination.


Ideas of stories tend to pop up in my mind whenever I'm in a very imaginative state. I'm often in such a state after having watched a great movie/series or when I'm just in a good mood.
I'll always start imagining a cool scene, or some interesting interactions, or a unique plot. These daydreams usually never last longer than longer than a day, because the ideas I come up with are kinda shallow and aren't really thought out. Often it's just me thinking of a better version of the story I've just watched/read.

I've also got a lot of ideas for specific plots stuck in my head. Think of these as just a starting ground for stories to be developed from. To give an example, here's a plot I've had in mind for a long time:
Imagine a typical murder mystery story where the detective has to find out who dunnit, except that the detective is actually the murderer and that this won't be revealed until the very end.
It's a brilliant idea for a plot which I might use later, but I'm not planning to fledge it out right now. It can stay in my head for the time being.

Next, there are the stories that have somehow stayed in my head for a long time. These stories start out as just a cool idea, or a cool scene, but they gradually get expanded whenever I start fantasizing about them. Suddenly I've got a whole cast of characters and a general idea of how the world looks like. I've immortalized these stories by making art of them and creating character designs. Most of the drawings I make are actually about these characters, although they're still only in the conceptual phase because I never decide to start fleshing them out.

However, there is one big exception to all of this, and it's the story of my own comic I've recently started making. One evening, I wrote down a silly story idea I had come up with and somehow a couple days later I was already drawing the first few pages! Basically, I decided that I would give myself free rein to do whatever I want and to make it as low-effort as I can. Now one month later, I'm already done with chapter 1!
I'll put it on my website very soon if you want to read it.


To sum it all up, stories tend to pop up naturally in my head and they get developed and changed as time goes on and I consume more media. These stories are what I most often tend to daydream about.
I'd like to know more about how other people's imagination works, so I find this an interesting subject to talk about!

[yuna2k]

For my comic I started thinking "wouldn't it be cool if there was a comic with X character and also there were this old men that did this X thing". I got inspired from real life, experiences, people i think are cool and people i think are assholes. A lot of my inspiration comes from the underground music scene for example. So i grab some sheets and I start sketching and writing notes and I fill one sheet and another one and BOOM! suddenly I had a solid/fun/interesting story.

I actually wrote about this in my latest entry of my blog: HOW TO MAKE A COMIC: PART 1

[Mezzaluna]

Ideas of stories tend to pop up in my mind whenever I'm in a very imaginative state. I'm often in such a state after having watched a great movie/series or when I'm just in a good mood.
I'll always start imagining a cool scene, or some interesting interactions, or a unique plot.

Ooh I'm also the same way ! I daydream a lot so my brain collects whatever intrigues me at the moment and I play around with it until it forms into an concept that won't go away.They might turn into characters, random scenes, or places but if they stick around long enough sometimes it gets big enough that it turns into its own story universe?

I don't usually finish my stories (from beginning to end) I just like playing around with them like they're barbie dolls: draw them, put them in outfits, put them in situations for my amusement. I try not to be too serious about it cause then it sucks the fun out of it (that's how I got burnout once and it lasted a long time)

[Maddy!]

Ooh I'm also the same way  ! I daydream a lot so my brain collects whatever intrigues me at the moment and I play around with it until it forms into an concept that won't go away.They might turn into characters, random scenes, or places but if they stick around long enough sometimes it gets big enough that it turns into its own story universe?

That's exactly how my thought process goes when it comes to stories! Isn't it interesting how we think alike?

Sometimes the idea for a story gets permanently stuck in my head and just refuses to leave. I also tend to play around with my imagined stories by drawing the characters and I've also got moments where I'm expanding on the story's world while daydreaming.