Coming up with story ideas…

[MelissaBaby]

My story ideas come from all over the place.

My Fall and Rise and The Gold Dollar Girls were based on my own experiences and those of others I have known.

The Adventures of Ranger Ramona was an adult version of stories about a girl forest ranger I wrote when I was a kid.

Queen of the Roller Derby came from a conversation I had with someone who was actually on a roller derby team.

A lot of stories, One Night in Detroit, Lake Effect, Night Shift, were prompted by challenges or contests.

Wild Birds of Maine and Oyster River were titles with no story attached, until I chewed on them long enough to imagine one.

The House on Hippie Hill came from two character sketches I'd put together with no story in mind. Eventually I realized the story was in simply in throwing the two of them together to see what would happen.

I think that's the key, to just be open to grab them whenever they pop up. Even if they seem silly or out of your comfort zone, you ought to at least make a note. They might strike you differently later.

 

[MelissaBaby]

For some reason, the bulk of my story ideas come to me in the shower.

Coming in the shower is not unusual.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

I wish I could give a sensible answer. The truth is that ideas spring from everywhere. The trick is to latch onto the ones that feel promising and give them a bit of flesh as soon as possible. Not necessarily by writing them down, but just explore the possibilities in your mind.

Giving them flesh is a good way of putting it. If the original idea is like the exciting first date, I feel like giving it flesh is the dating part, seeing if it can work out long-term.

 

[old_prof]

Do you write a lot of plumbing stories?

He is just thinking about his women getting wet.

 

[AlexIce]

I get my story ideas from everyday situations or conversations I hear. Another big inspiration for me are places I've visited over the years.

It doesn't take a lot for me to get an idea for a story. My latest submission, which is currently in pending status, is based off spending time at my husband's family's cabin last summer in Minnesota!

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Do you write a lot of plumbing stories?

Damn it, a plot bunny has been born...

 

[Writer61]

Damn it, a plot bunny has been born...

Scantily dressed woman: it keeps gushing
Plumber: there's a problem with your stop-cock

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've got about six of those furry little bastards wrestling about mow.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've reached a point where I'm getting ideas off my own ideas.

My WIP features three characters who have starred in multiple stories/books coming together for a team up style story.

The book I posted two years ago about an escort resurfaced in a "would she service women" and if so when was her first same sex encounter?

That ended with the woman being married and playing with a young woman on the side with her husband's permission and setting up a story where she comes back to see the escort with her husband, so a first 'sees couples" story.

As for more original ideas, the usual source which is anything from an interesting porn clip. seeing something while people watching, a photo on a site I use for covers. My own cesspool mind.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

^^^ Barbara/Barb/Barbi is becoming quite the promiscuous little slut and exhibitionist.

 

[Writer61]

I've reached a point where I'm getting ideas off my own ideas.

Part of the reason I write in a universe is that most of my MCs are spawned from other stories.

 

[DeMont]

I seldom have this issue, but asking for a friend.

For me, the littlest things can provoke an idea, which might turn into a 5,000 word story, or 30,000 word novella. People I see, things that happen to me, places I have been, maybe a scene in a movie or TV show that I can twist to my own purposes, world or domestic events. Obviously things that I have read. In some cases, just a word can suggest a storey (cf. my short lesbian story, Bilingual).

Where do you get your inspiration from?

My dear Frances, I feel your friends frustration. Since I first began penning short stories in around 2002 or so I have had this selfsame problem numerous times.

Convey this to your friend. Think about a subject, a topic, a tale that you WANT to tell and, as I mentioned to another member a couple of days ago, don't even think about sex being a part of it. Put sex right out of your mind. Put Literotica right out of your mind.Then write about something you like, something you don't like, something you wish would happen but NO SEX. I know, crazy idea for an erotic literature board but if you take that pressure off yourself and write what you've always wanted to write about, just for fun, you may find the block broken.

When you've finished the story leave it aside for a couple of days then go back and see if you can introduce the sex into the narrative at some point. It may be worth a shot.

Deepest respects,
D.

 

[yano2mch]

I seldom have this issue, but asking for a friend.

For me, the littlest things can provoke an idea, which might turn into a 5,000 word story, or 30,000 word novella. People I see, things that happen to me, <snip>

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I frequent F-list quite a bit, so maybe this is a little niche. When you go there you make a character from scratch, and you specify what you are/aren't willing to do in kinks. (Fave/Yes/Maybe/No lists). Then when someone would say they're interested you throw in several kinks you're interested in, and look at their kinks. Add several of theirs (usually Fave/Yes are safe to suggest), and just the combination of kinks will give you ideas of how to make them fit.

Example: if i took Incest, TF (transformation), Magic potions, M/F, pseudo-rape, (probably usual oral+vanilla sex), and then bathroom/house setting. Now take these thrown together would make for where: A potion (bought from shady site?, accidentally created/fermented? gag gift turned real?) ends up being drank by my brother who then turns into a girl, then as they get curious and horny, coaxing them to the shower where their new sexuality is explored while getting a shower in.

The idea above would be fine for a one-shot 1-2 hour RP, but it's still a place to start from.

Otherwise recently getting into LLMs and SillyTavern, I've been getting Character Cards (images with built-in scenarios) and I'm trying those for inspiration. Usually includes a starter post.


Otherwise, finding authors i like and finding i like certain mixing of authors and genres. Like ManyEyedHydra's work, erotic horror.

 

[old_prof]

I have said this before, but my favorite inspiration is watching random people, mostly at restaurants.

Do you see someone sitting alone? Why? What is their story? Are they plotting a crime. Did they just break up with their SO? Do they have a date tonight? Who would they date? What would they want to do with them?

The best is when you can almost hear two people having a conversation. You have to fill in the missing words. You hear her tell her friend that's; is broken, but you missed what 'it' is. Maybe it is her dishwasher. But maybe it is her magic amulet. And her sex slave boyfriend is coming out of trance and she is traumatized about what she is going to do,

 

[ThatNewGuy]

For some reason, the bulk of my story ideas come to me in the shower.

This is so common there's even a term for it: the shower effect. A cognitive scientist at the University of Virginia published a paper on the shower effect in 2022. Moderately engaging activities like taking a walk, washing the dishes, or taking a shower are great for "task-unrelated thoughts" (i.e., mind wandering), which promotes creativity.

I've had good success thinking through story ideas in the shower, but I've also experienced the shower effect while brushing my teeth, shaving, and washing dishes. It's weird, but it works!

 

[Soixenta]

This is so common there's even a term for it: the shower effect. A cognitive scientist at the University of Virginia published a paper on the shower effect in 2022. Moderately engaging activities like taking a walk, washing the dishes, or taking a shower are great for "task-unrelated thoughts" (i.e., mind wandering), which promotes creativity.

I've had good success thinking through story ideas in the shower, but I've also experienced the shower effect while brushing my teeth, shaving, and washing dishes. It's weird, but it works!

I have had a few ideas come to me during massages.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Lotsa drugs. : P

 

[SimonDoom]

I get my ideas from all over the place, but the most common source of story ideas is other stories. I was an avid erotica reader for about 15 years before I wrote my first story. I'd had ample time to form strong ideas about what I liked. So, by the time I started writing, I had an ample stock of ideas. I'd read a story I liked, and think, "I'd like to write my own version of that concept."

Most of my stories are NOT based on every day reality or personal experience. My imagination is a lot more perverted and adventurous than I am in reality.

My weirdest story source was courtesy of MelissaBaby, who posted something years ago about a news story of "penis fish" (a type of worm) washing up on a beach in Northern California. It inspired me to write Penis Fish, one of my weirdest stories.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Usually I will get an interesting plot idea or a combination of motives, and then see if I can find some emotion in it. Then I know that I have something. Equally I might come up with an emotional situation or dynamic and see if I can weave some plot with it.

But I'm not fussy and I'm not proud. If I come up with a cool idea, I take I any way that it might come to me. Gift horses and all that.

 

[ThatNewGuy]

I have had a few ideas come to me during massages.

I've never had a massage. But it sounds like I'd be doing a disservice to my writing if I didn't schedule one, so I should probably get on that.

To the OP's original question, I've had ideas crop up from all sorts of places: a story I heard on NPR, a drive past a self-storage unit, a recurring dream, a childhood memory, a magazine article, and a long, sleepless night in a hotel room that I shared with a friend who snored very, very loudly.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

My weirdest story source was courtesy of MelissaBaby, who posted something years ago about a news story of "penis fish" (a type of worm) washing up on a beach in Northern California. It inspired me to write Penis Fish, one of my weirdest stories.

Couple that with ...

Both the Saora people of India and the Mehinaku people of the Amazon have seemingly separate tales of vaginas just... wandering about.
Detachable vaginas show up again in Hawaiian myth with the goddess Kapo-kohe-lele.
Maui from Maori mythology tries to crawl into the Goddess of Night's vagina for reasons and pays the ultimate price.

Wait, couple them?

Groan!