It snuck up on me from behind, hit me with a plot, and ran off into the fog. Well, not always, but sometimes it seems like it. Starting with “What if…” works well for some people, although not for me most of the time.
For a while MZB and a few other authors were bouncing Arthurian, Wagnerian, and other legends off of each other, adding a big dollop of “what if” fantasy elements, and came up with some intriguing stories. I’m not sure all of them will stand the test of time (or awareness of authorial “personal problems”).* However, others delved into the enormous bulk of non-Grimm, non-Disney stories that are out there and found a lot of material to play with, or at least use as a starting point. Heck, Andre Norton’s Witchworld begins with a nod to Arthurian legends and then goes very different places (literally in her case.)
Spite can also work for some people. You might get tired of one great idea-lousy message story too many, or think “I like the premise but not the other bits, and really, no [whatever] would ever do that” and try to do better yourself. Twisting tropes can be fun, especially if they are tropes that can be reworked into something healthier. For example, declaring that a character is “a strong women” and then having her act like wet tissue paper is a trope in a certain subgenre of romance. I just cannot do that – strong women are competent, not stupid, and will carefully tell the male protagonist when he’s about to step on a rake. (Or not, if he’s asking for it.)
Several regulars here have commented that they don’t have ideas for new stories. Sometimes the well does go dry, because of Life Happening™, or illness, or busyness and fatigue. Or “all of the above.” As Dorothy, Sarah, and others say, give yourself grace. That’s also a good time to read, or look at your story-scrap file, or your clippings and images file, and see if anything catches your fancy. The muse might nudge you a little toward something, a hint of plot or character. Take it, make note of it, and give thanks. It will be there later, and you are one step farther on the road to the mountain (as Neil Gaiman put it.)
I’ve been fortunate that just as I think the well is dry, I find a useful snippet or two in a folder, or someone asks something that sparks a story, or two unrelated things fall together into a usable something. For example, some time ago I found a photo of a part-ruined castle on the top of what looks like a volcanic neck or something similar and round. Inside the castle was grass, as if the builders had left a pasture or green space there for some reason. Neat photo, but not a story. So I saved the image and went on. Fast forward a year or so, and I’m listening to the song “Withering Heart” by Orion’s Reign. And I saw an older man, out on top of a hill or on a castle parapet, patrolling when he should have been home and warm. He was alone, and full of doubts, and only duty kept him going. Why? Why was an old warrior out in the clear winter night?
My hindbrain combined those two pieces with the question: what happens when a lord turns to the bad, but the man he blames continues doing his duty despite the dangers? Boom, character, setting, and general idea of plot. A lot needed to be worked out (still needs to be worked out!) but there’s something there I can use.
Don’t be afraid to look at various bits and pieces and try fitting them together, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. Some things won’t work. Others might.
Dry spells end. Touch grass, breathe, give yourself room, and stuff will come.
*I’m being tactful and understated. Work with me, please.
Mad Genius Club 
15 responses to “Where Did the Story Come From?”
Bad stories are in fact better to steal from than good stories because you always want to change them already.
(Thus far, no one has identified the source of any of my own stories that have the serial numbers filed off.)
Odd question time. Has it ever been the case that someone wanted to ‘steal’ not a story but a particular character and use them in a work of their own? I’m not talking in fanfiction where I think we’ve all seen it, I’m talking in actual for-sale fiction.
ALL THE TIME.
And it lets you file off serial numbers like nobody’s business.
Part of me wants to ask for any especially good examples of using your own take on a character that come to mind, but I imagine there are so many it’d be impossible to provide ‘just a few’.
But thank you.
It can be hard to tell. Though the one that *Shards of Honor* started as Bujold’s StarTrek fanfic of a red-haired Federation officer and a Klingon shipwrecked on a planet. . . .
And, oh, yes, John C. Wright’s Starquest. Star Wars the Extended Universe and the sequel trilogy mashed together with other tropes to make a good sequel.
I can’t speak for other authors, although I’ve seen one case that I’m like 80% sure was meant to be “Ramirez from Highlander IN SPACE!”
But I can speak for where some of my characters come from: the main guy in Star Master is basically the protagonist from Singh is King in outer space, stuck in a Beyond the Law type situation; three of the four Ancestors of Jaiya heroes are based on characters played by the same actor in the timeframe of 2015-2016; the guy from Loving a Deathseer owes a lot to My Man Godfrey and the supporting cast mostly comes from Mansfield Park (did you know that if you genderflip the Bertram parents, you get a female and uncharacteristically sane politician married to Mr. Bennet?) The Wolf’s Trail guy is basically Aragorn crossed with Hammer Films Van Helsing.
Some of the characters I have in mind would need a pretty bizarre story and setting, given that they’re not even human.
But thanks for the titles you provided. I’ll check Amazon for them.
Thank you! I forgot to mention that Possible Ramirez IN SPACE is a supporting character in the Tour of the Merrimack by R. M. Meluch
In my own work, a few:
Sword and Shadow derives from a movie about El Cid — and not the movie itself, but a description of an incident in each, which appears in the story, but is not a major scene.
Dragonfire and Time is ripped off from a TV episode I watched part of because it was on when I was visiting. There were no dragons in the episode.
Dragon Slayer was inspired by the comment in Voyage of the Dawn Treader about how the Lonely Isle came under Narnia’s rule. No region comes under someone else’s rule in the story.
I’ll keep my eyes open for those. They are on Amazon, right?
Oh, yes. You can find them and others here Also in many other find online venues.
And if you wonder about origins for the others, I will tell you as best I can remember.
Most of my new ideas generally pop up when I’m trying to force myself to finish something else. “C’mon! Just one last battle, then home to your bride and I can publish this sucker!” and POW! New! Bright! Shiney! Write this down so you don’t forget! 30K words later . . . and I have to reread the first thing to get my head back into the characters for that last battle . . .
But Mary’s right about stealing from bad stories. “Arg! No, no, no! You idiot, you just missed a fantastic opportunity . . . well, I’ll write it right!”
So many of my stories started with not spite but frustration. “There is an awesome story right here that you ALMOST TOLD, why did you let yourself get distracted?” (You, generic incase I wasn’t clear.)
Oh yes. “Wait, why didn’t you go THIS way instead of THAT way? It would be so much more interesting/satisfying/entertaining/fun.”
Why on earth did you shove that into the backstory? (Result; A Diabolical Bargain.)