The stories are all around you

I got a questions yesterday about where one comes up with ideas. A lot of people have written about this over the years, but I guess I have my own view of it because I'm one of those people who always has more ideas than I have time to write. Most writers are, I think.

I have an active imagination. Always have had. While other kids watched TV and played Super Mario Brothers, I had access to neither of those things. I didn't even have satisfactory Barbies. Instead I would grab the plastic gun and run around my house pretending to be in the CIA or I would run down to the lake and imagine I was hiding from a gang of evil warlords. So most of what I do comes from the fact that I am incapable of only seeing the world as it currently is. For good or bad, I'm always in a bit of a fantasy.

That's where the idea for Not Dead Yet came from. Ex-Boyfriend and I were sitting around discussing our plan to defend against a zombie attack and it started to sound like a cool story, but one that's been done a dozen times over.

So I thought, let's say we did survive. What then? We've been going out for three months now and I'd suddenly be stuck with him for the rest of my life if we ended up being the only survivors. What if we weren't that compatible after all? I wouldn't have any choice.

So I decided to write a script about that.

The Pushing Daisies I'm working on is based on a man I once knew in Martin County, NC. In fact he may be the most interesting thing in Martin County. He had one major hobby and it's all he ever talked about, so I want to write a story around him. Pushing Daisies ended up being a perfect opportunity for that.

Game Night was based on a game of Taboo I played with a few friends that ended up being way more dramatic than was necessary.

The Corner, the short I'm currently prepping and will talk about some more later this week, was based on the fact that I wanted to write a boxing story I could film with two of my actor friends in the lead roles.

For years I've been marinating a story about a queen based on a project I did in a college French class. I haven't ever written it because it's so far off what I normally write that I don't think I should write it until I establish myself.

Ideas come from all over, but you have to be ready to recognize them when they hit you. All an idea really is is a big WHAT IF moment. What if I'm stuck in a troubled marriage after the zombie apocalypse? What if someone had brought a gun to the Taboo game? What if Batman was afraid of clowns?

The world around you is filled with stories. When people talk, listen. My House spec came from a story a friend of mine told about a time he had to go to the hospital because a spider had laid eggs in his ass. That is not a joke.

And if that still doesn't work, try these websites for inspiration. Fark is a site where people submit odd news stories. Etiquette Hell is a site where people tell stories about horrible wedding behavior - perfect fodder for people who write romcoms, Something Awful posts quirky tidbits from around the Internet. All of these are places to find inspiration. And you can also try reading the newspaper.

But if you try all these things and you still don't see the story, you might want to try being a producer.