Idea developing

[Rinima]

How do you develop an idea? How do you think of the original idea behind stories?

Do you get them from reading books? Do you get them from modern concepts? Or do they just come to you (if so, lucky you XD)?

And how do you go about developing the world in which it takes place? People or settings first? Do you include cults/religions/mass groups? How do you come up with these groups?

[dreamy]

Well, getting an idea at first is quite easy for me. If I see a particular idea that catches my eye, I can immediately start forming an idea. It can come from anywhere- books, movies, events or even games. Then I work on making it an original concept, which takes alot of work.

As for creating the world, I usually start with characters first since it is the easiest, afterwards I can change the setting according to the characters included. Once everything is included, that's when the idea development comes in. I can change it according to the environment and character and there you have it!

[SimonLayton]

You develop an "original" idea by mashing two other ideas together. Or "recycle" another idea and twist it so it looks "original."

Not all ideas came from the books we read, the shows we watch. Inspiration can pop in your mind when you're pouring coffee, or walking down a street, or go birdwatching. Or, sometimes the concepts of our favorite series resurfaces in our mind, disguised into a different world, or setting, or concept itself.

When I have an idea, I put it in the back of my mind and let it develop by itself, but I have to frequently revisit the idea so it won't fade to black and be forgotten. And sometimes I would seek more ideas and combine them with the original idea, then slowly build it together into one huge "novel" concept. I keep saying to myself, "I want to write it, I will write it." I just needed inspiration and motivation to jot those words down. And sometimes I have to do it quickly, because I always think that there's someone, out there in the world, who has the same ideas as me, and if I don't write it soon, that idea wouldn't be mine anymore hehe. :P

[Fungii]

I tend to get ideas sporadically, and then develop it from there depending on if the creative juices are flowing or not. Funnily enough the moments where I usually get over roadblocks in an idea is when I'm on the toilet or sitting through a long train journey .

It helps if you have creative people to bounce ideas off of to; I was stuck on how to finish a comic idea a few weeks ago and I talked about it with friends and got there pretty quickly thanks to them.

Most of my ideas come from things I'd like to see, but haven't seen yet, or seen them done in a way that I liked.

[Raithfyre]

I've learned to always carry a notebook (or, since I got one, a smartphone) because sometimes inspiration strikes, one line at a time. Generally, I'll randomly think of a sentence or a small scene, and then spend a while trying to create some sort of context for it. Your creative process may vary, but I do think my advice at the beginning is always going to be true - don't ever, ever, ever get caught without some way to record what you think of.

[noeinan]

I've read a lot of books (tons of books O,O) so if I have an original inspiration I can develop the idea pretty easily. I know what's been done and done and done before, and what stands out. I also ask myself lots of questions! Oh, that's interesting, what about this? etc. Looking up world building or character development guides also helps because it brings me more questions to ask about the characters/stories that I hadn't thought of before. (One particular character tutorial on deviantart is really good... Don't remember the name but it had a rainbow sheep and there were three parts. I can dig it up later if anyone is interested.)

For the original spark, usually something catches my eye-- maybe there was an opening scene for an anime where one particular image stood out and I think "that could be a story all its own!" Other times, I actually get ideas from dreams. I have very vivid dreams, and have them pretty often. They can get crazy, and don't always make sense (like a collage) but sometimes one or more elements stand out and kind of demand a story to be made out of them.

I actually rarely write my ideas down-- I just carry them in my head. I still have story ideas rattling around in there from when I was 5 years old.

[OokamiKasumi]

How do you develop an idea? How do you come up with the [details] behind stories? Do you get them from reading books? Do you get them from modern concepts? Or do they just come to you (if so, lucky you XD)? How do you develop the world in which it takes place? People or settings first? Do you include cults/religions/mass groups? How do you come up with these groups?

In other words, what you want to know is:

How do you build a Story from an Idea?

Let's begin by breaking this huge pile of questions down to smaller, bite-sized pieces...

How do you develop an idea?

I start with a Climactic Event.
-- My ideas may originate from anything at all; from a piece of music to a picture I saw on the 'net, but to make a Story from those ideas I start with What I Want to Happen at the very heart of my story -- a central Climactic/Crisis Event. I then create a Plot Concept around it to make that event happen, and tie up loose ends after the event.

Plot concept:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Act 1: What caused the Event.
Act 2: Climactic/Crises Event.
Act 3: What happened after.

Example: What I Want to Happen.

• I want the central climactic/crisis event to be an epic space battle between a Galactic Empire and a tribe of Space Privateers, and I want the characters to carry Swords.

How do you come up with the [Details] behind stories?
-- Do you get them from reading books? Do you get them from modern concepts? Or do they just come to you (if so, lucky you XD)?

RESEARCH.
-- The Details I come up with are mainly generated by reading stories similar to what I want to write, and researching what I need to know to make such an event Plausible. This tends to reveal unexpected facts which often give me MORE ideas to add to the story.

How do you make something in a story Plausible?
You use Facts to give its existence a Good Excuse.

Examples: Facts

• Did you know that privateers had Written Permission from their home country to attack the ships of the countries their country didn't like --especially if there was a war going on-- as long as they turned over a certain percentage of 'booty' to their home country? (Ah ha! I now have a 'good excuse' to make the privateers the Good Guys!)
• Did you know that Empires (the British Empire in particular,) routinely hired Merchants to be Privateers when they didn't have enough ships in their fleets BECAUSE Merchant ships were extremely well-armed specifically to fight off Pirates (other Privateers)? (Ah-HA! Now I have a good excuse to have a Privateers vs. Pirates battle!)
• Did you know that those same empires that hired Privateers would also systematically destroy their Privateers once a treaty was signed with the country they had gone to war with, mainly because this was often a condition for a treaty to be signed? (Ah-HA! Now I have a 'good excuse' for Privateers to become pissed off at an empire!)
• Did you know that using a projectile weapon of any sort on a spaceship spelled Instant Death should that projectile shoot through the outer hull? (Ah-AH! I know have a 'good excuse' to have all my characters carry Swords!)

How do you develop the world in which it takes place?
-- People or Settings first? Do you include cults/religions/mass groups? How do you come up with these groups?

I begin with the World.
-- I always start with the SETTING, the World my characters will inhabit. I research everything to look for clues about what kind of cultures, politics, employment, social positions, religions, etc. would come into play in such a story because a character's culture and civilization will be what makes each character who they are -- the same way that your culture and civilization made you who you are.

Examples: Space, Empires, and Privateers.

• How Empires happen, and how are they governed?
• Why Privateers would be hired?
• Under what conditions would privateers be attacked by an empire?
• What are the conditions for living in space?
• What kinds of space travel would I need, (Faster-than-light? Folding space? Jump-gates...?) and can they be adapted to what I want to do?
• What kind of weapons would a spaceship have?
• How would a space battle be conducted?

Then Characters.
-- Once I have a good grasp of the cultures my characters would inhabit, then I decide what kind of characteristics and backgrounds the Characters would need to make my Event happen -- or Not happen.

Examples: Characters

• Why would people (or a whole family) become privateers?
• Why would someone hate the empire?
• Why would someone hate privateers?
• What kind of training would be needed to fight in space?
• If I make the main character a neutral party, where would such a character come from, and why would they have such a mindset?

And that's how I build a Story from an Idea.

Enjoy!

[MelancholicTree]

When I want to develop an idea, i follow some easy steps that (Not always) work:

1- I imagine a few characters, no matter how cliché and stereotypical they are, keep them.
2- After this, I imagine the place where the story occurs.
3- Thinking of the place, I try to come up with a simple story. If the place is a school, maybe some romance and love triangles?
4- Then I think about the problem. The young girl falls in love with two guys
5- Now pick the characters again. Make them different, I usually complete a character sheet.
6- Writing is hard if I'm not sure about the idea, so I make a little drawing making clear what I am talking in the prologue, chapter 1, and everything else.
7- Write! : D Nope, before I start writing, I do a small research on the theme of the story. For example, if my story is about a specific retro video game, then research it. I don't know, I do this on Wikipedia and Google.
8- Write!

About developing places, depending on how much important is it, I start talking about the impact it has on the rest of the world of your story. Something like this " Example Example is a big city. Is the most important of YourWorld because that's the place where foundation ZuXu develops their products" And then start talking why your story takes place there, and don't be too complex with words, I personally don't like long descriptions

Sorry for my bad english