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/lit/ - Literature

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22921247 No.22921247 [Reply] [Original]

How the fuck does someone come up with ideas? I can't seem to think of a single decent idea when it comes to writing stories. Whenever I write them they have to be fanfiction and it has to be a request from an anon. I can't think of something myself. I would like to try and write horror, and most prompts I find are fantasy or romance. Does anyone have those old roll charts I could use, or suggestions on books dealing specifically with writing horror?

>> No.22921265

Read. Talk to people. Live life. The typical 4channer (i.e. incel NEET shutin with a room-temperature IQ) hasn't got a chance.

>> No.22921303
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22921303

>>22921247
Writing and ideas are the two easiest parts of being an author. Everything else is the difficult part.

>> No.22921328

>>22921265
I have and I do. I rarely have a week where I don't go out and do or try something new.
I will read more. I have had some trouble with that and I plan on reading at least one book a month this year. It's a small goal. It's better than reading four or five books at once over the course of a few months.

>>22921303
There is only one other part for me, which will be posting the stories. I don't intend to publish them. For now I want to be able to write short horror well, then I will try to do a longer novel that will get published. Last time I tried to do a long novel it became meandering and boring. It was like a stream of consciousness from a schizophrenic high on meth rather than something that should be read.

>> No.22921591

>>22921328
>I have and I do.
If that were true, how are you not coming up with ideas? Going to the convenience store isn't sufficient.

>> No.22921611

>>22921247
TV and film help too, even the slop, even just sitcoms. You need to have good sleep and nutrients so your brain can make better connections. Maybe go on TVTropes and see what's up with your favorite stories. Get interested in some sort of philosophical idea, a metanarrative aspect of the world, a theme.
Look for charts in the archive
Also who's the sexy picrel?

>> No.22921617

I'm a spacing sort of guy.
By that I mean that when I don't pretend to talk to people I'm thinking of a character a story a moment, sometimes they come to me others I think of them.

>> No.22921622

Get in the habit of day dreaming and imagining scenarios. The hardest part is unironically detaching from the phone and approaching life more slowly so as to allow the imagination to reach a boil.

>> No.22921810

>>22921265
He was seething, boiling with rage at the zinger

"room-temperature IQ" He says... blah blah bloo. [making his hand open and close in imitation of a mouth talking].

Wait... I got it!... I know how to get back at him! He'll also never see it coming, it's going to be EPIC!

An idea entered anon's mind at that very moment, an idea so scrupulous in its simplicity it's actually quite the aneurysm. The idea was to simply comply with the zinger, and simultaneously falsify it by becoming an example! A living breathing counterexample of a human being!

"I'll simply make MY room temperature as high as my desired IQ!" He said proudly to the camera.

"You watching this?"

"I'll start a fire!.. the hotter the smarter"

Anon burned to a crisp that night. With an IQ soaring into the 1200C, just shy of being able to melt steel beams.

[the end]

>> No.22921861
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22921861

Try keeping a little notepad or something where you write ideas as they come to you, either from imagination or things that grab you as interesting when you read / watch / play something. Don't try and filter them out too quickly, just let whatever flows come naturally. Be more discerning in your taste later when trying to elaborate on them, and you'll naturally start to find better ideas as you keep it up as well.

Also aside from stories themselves I've found criticism helpful, in that you see more clearly why somethings work and what's possible with the story in question. Try looking up articles related to works you enjoy on jstor or something.

Dostoevsky had a practice too of reading news articles (very small things, even just headlines) and then trying to elaborate them into a larger, contextualised story. Might be worth a shot if you're really wanting to more rigorous practice.

>> No.22921873

>>22921247
In horror, the monsterous antagonist is usually a supernatural manifestation of the psychological consequences of the protagonist's real world moral failings. With this in mind, consider some ethical moorings you're particularly interested in, or that are being uniquely stomped in the culture today (that you disagree with). Boom, you have your flawed and relatable protagonist. Now beat them up with something otherworldly & nightmare inducing.
For inspo, read jung, read the classic gothic novels, watch 80s horror cinema. Consume what's already been done, notice what works & what doesn't, combine some of your favorite disparate elements, and dress it all up to make it uniquely yours.
You can't go wrong with any book that interrogates and explains genre.

>> No.22922117
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22922117

>>22921591
I've never been a creative man. I've always gotten someone else's thing and recolored it. That works in art somewhat, but not in writing. I can't write something scary about trying out a new restaurant or going to the movies.

>>22921611
>Get interested in some sort of philosophical idea, a metanarrative aspect of the world, a theme.
Thanks for the advice. That sounds like a wonderful idea. He's Eric Nelson, the lawyer of Derek Chauvin. Have another picture as payment for the advice.

>>22921622
>>22921861
Thank you both. I'll start doing that. I have a few small notebooks lying around I can easily use.

>>22921873
Thank you. That makes this task sound very doable. Do you have any recommendations on books like that? I only have books on general nonfiction.

>> No.22922142

>>22922117
>I've never been a creative man
Then why are you trying to come up with ideas to write about? It seems you're not suited for this field.

>> No.22922153

>>22922142
I want to get better at something I am bad at. I find writing fun and enjoyable, but only when I'm writing in my diary or smut. I think I only like it when doing those two, because those are the only two things I am good at. I like horror and suspense, and I'd like to be able to write it as well. Have you never thought that some art or skill was respectable and wished you could do it as well?

>> No.22922159

>>22922117
NP, I've only really poked through Truby's "anatomy of genres," it's very barebones material (makes it a quick read). I wouldn't say it's a definitive authority on the subject, but for curious nonwriters like me, it was a fun intro to the creative arts.

>> No.22922172
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22922172

>>22922159
Thanks. I'll look it up now. It will be greatly helpful as i have no experience in that other than watching tons of horror movies, and reading a lot of horror short stories.

>> No.22922177

>>22921247
my best ideas come when I'm taking a dump
I keep a notebook in the bathroom and sometimes use it when I run out of toilet paper
bidetfags don't know what it's like

>> No.22922216

>>22922177
>checked
I'll refrain from buying a bidet I wanted.

>> No.22922221

The only writers worth reading are readers who took up writing.

In other words your imagination has not been sufficiently enriched by reading to unlock your native imagination that is buried.

>> No.22922292

>>22922153
I never considered wasting other people's time, asking for advice on something on which I had no skill and even less commitment.

>> No.22922335
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22922335

>>22922292
I'm not wasting people's time, as long as I take their advice to heart. Also if you have no skill in something then you would need to ask for advice, unless you're naturally talented. I'm not in most things I have become skilled at. To think that a person can only get better at something they are already good at is retarded. You're giving up before you even started, and that is worse than trying and failing.

>> No.22922416

>>22921247
Analyze what you enjoy. Books, TV, movies, and music. Read and study what inspired your favorite works of fiction (and make sure to read up on the personal lives of the authors). Coming up with ideas means taking a good look at what you like. Beyond that, take a wide interest in psychology, literature, history, language, science, religion, and politics.

Besides that, an even better thing you can do is daydream/fantasize. Let your imagination wander. Write down or speak aloud anything that comes to mind, good or bad.

When it comes to horror, specifically...you need to ask yourself what scares you and why. Understand that and you'll be on your way.