Where do your ideas come from? And what helps you when you're transitioning those ideas from your mind to the paper? And how do you keep those ideas flowing?
Examples: A particular type of music? A documentary on the subject you're writing about, a muse, very long breaks and naps, dreams, stealing from others, etc.
Well....I don't know. I got ideas for a lot of my plots from other films, but in a very generic way. ex. Deriving a gangster film from "GoodFellas" or "The Godfather", or mixing different genres/films together, such as science fiction and heist-gone-wrong films among others. However, I also get certain images in my head that lead to film from listening to dark industrial instrumentals, such as Ghosts I-IV by NIN. That helps a lot, also by looking at art (paintings) or reading novels. Basically it comes down to the quote, "Inspiration is everywhere." That also. Quotes can lead you to different stories by their message. e.g. Making a drama about loneliness from "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone." But that's just my two cents.
I jot down notes usually, it doesn't have to make sense, but writing them down is a good way to archive them. You can always go back later and revisit them. Sometimes, I let the idea sit in my brain a little longer till it's "good enough". Music helps me a lot with writing. I get inspiration from nowhere and everywhere. It just hits me. Sometimes it just takes longer to figure out. Sometimes, it flows like water.
I have an ideas book, plus most my ideas come reading philosophy, film theory or Art philosophy then watching films who tried to put that into practice and then try something new or different. Dreams also give a slight influence.
I should probably give up trying to directing and/or filmmaking in general, writing is a lot easier for me.
Ideas come from random places, sometimes when I'm trying to stay focussed on something else.
There is no greater place to draw from than real life- interactions and human nature wise. It can go the other way, if you want something to be unnatural or to stand out.
I like forgetting ideas sometimes because they come back, fused with other ideas to become a better whole.
I've only recently started writing stuff down. I have a small little tab in CeltX where I write a lot of random ideas. For some reason I find Microsoft Word too distracting. Funnily enough, I always end up writing my short stories and stuff in that.
I also write up dreams as soon as possible, in the fear that I may lose it. I have a very indistinct text-file deep in my laptop where I write my dreams- dreams can be severely personal, so I keep them hidden. They've inspired writing before.
Well, my ideas just kind of come to me, but keeping them flowing and being able to put them on paper is another thing. I usually just a take a fews days off from writing, watch some tv, stuff like that. Then if I'm still having trouble, I push my current project to the side and try and write a quick short story. Just something to get the creative juices flowing again.
"It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life because that's going to happen. All that matters is you gotta get up."
