kaykayelle

I love love love writing fanfic, but lately I haven't been able to come up with any good ideas. The only things I can think of are just continuations of stories that I have already written.

Does anyone have any tips for how to get inspired? I'm so blocked and I hate it!

Scythe

Listen to music I don't write much fic, but whenever I lose my muse for art, I listen to music. It always gives me ideas.

Catalinay

Music sometimes helps. My muse has been blocked for a long time, now, so I'm looking forward to more suggestions here!

kaykayelle

All my music has kind of been played to death - no inspiration there. I did get inspired by a song before, though. Never wrote the story, but it was a pretty good idea.

Orton

For me it's different because I get so easily obsessed with new TV shows, characters and actors that I can just make something up. I tend to read a lot of original fictions than I do fan fiction now. Just reading some really good stories give me the inspiration to write something.

Or I tend to write drabbles and take requests from my readers, and ask them what kind of storyline they want or would like to read. Sometimes the ideas they give me really help to create a new story.

PMD

Sometimes when I feel like I'm having problems with my muse I turn off the computer and if it's nice outside, go for a walk. Or if not---just sit and read a book. The basic thing is to walk away from the computer---just take a breather---maybe an afternoon is just needed---maybe a whole day. Just relax and don't even think about it. Then you can go back with fresh eyes and write again.

However, if no ideas come to mind---do what I do---I'm not proud---I ask my friends---I say, come on---got any idea of how I can get Chloe and Lex going at it again---or how about Weevil and Veronica or Logan and Mac from Veronica Mars. Still haven't come up with a first meeting idea for Logan and Mac though. Ah well, I will someday. Hope that helps, sweetie. Oh, muse is the romantic writer in the family---so I guess my human muses help her, not me---I'm just the typist.

trucherrygirl

Listening to music definitely helps at times, I think. Though I think it depends on your mood, the mood of the music, etc. Sometimes getting lost in song lyrics you really like can help you get inspiration for song fics.

I also think drawing off of personal experiences can help a lot. If you enjoy writing and getting your ideas out on paper or seeing them on the comp screen getting a little personal might be a nice garnish. The beautiful thing about personalizing a fanfic is that your audience wouldn't know how personal it is to you unless they knew you personally or you explicitly told them. It's also a healthy way to express emotions and if you're expressing them thru fictional characters it might help sort out the ideas in your head better and help you out with the emotional upheavals in your personal life.

Nikki K

Uhm... cry?
Hit her with a stick?

Haven't found a recipe yet.

Fearlessღ

I have an odd way of finding ideas - I cook. Whenever I start cooking, anything really - from cookies to a four course dinner - that's where my inspiration lies. Try digging out some old recipes from your family that have been passed down, sometimes just the simple penmenship from your grandmother or her mother will inspire you to write something that includes your fandom.

Lost in Translation

I think these are all wonderful suggestions: my problem is that I've tried it all and nothing is coming to me. Another problem is my self-confidence (or lack thereof) I just don't believe I can write characters all that well and my writing is cliché-ridden.

Orton

I think when you write fan fiction it is much harder. You have so many rules to work with. Is the character in character, would they actually say this, is this believable , I'm I just repeating another 200 stories that are the same. I get the feeling.

However I believe that if you can't really grasp the characters, then that fandom isn't for you. No matter how much I wanted to write for Young Americans I just couldn't get it right, and all my stories just plain sucked

kaykayelle

I've been trying to draw on personal experience. Tried putting my characters in school together, that wasn't any good. Tried making them come into the job I recently had (for thritenn hours! But that's a whole other type of story), but that didn't fit either.

I'm really hoping something will come to me. I now I have said before that I have exhausted all possibilities with my characters, but since I said that last I went on to write about five more stories. So Im banking on something coming. I just miss writing so much!

Lost in Translation

Which sucks becasue every fandom I want to write about just doesn't seem to work with me. And the plots themselves seem weak.

As for drawing from personal experience I haven't gone through much in my life that's trnaslatable to fanfiction. As for original fiction I could probably try writing it one day (once I get an idea for a story)

Ron_Beckett

Other than music, what works for me, is that I'll watch tv shows and then some idea will pop into my head. To use this as an example, I've recently begun watching "TAKEN" and I've never done any fics for that mini series but now my head is bubbling with ideas.

What also seems to work is using the objects that surround me. Or using my RL experiences. And if those don't work, I always have this back-up plan where I have created my own personal character and if I don't have ideas then I'll create a fic where I can add my character into it.

kaykayelle

TV shows are usually good. If you watch something really good on TV, it always inspires me, or at the very least gets the juices flowing. Good things make you want to something equally great, in my opinion.