Where do your plots come from?

[Disjecta Membra]

Where do your plots come from?  What inspires the stories that you write?  Do you base them on real-life experiences, do you find inspiration in other works, do they just come to you?

 

My writings are generally sparked by three things (though this is far from an inclusive list).  Often, prompts/challenges/deadlines are actually super helpful in my creative process.  If I know I have to write a certain type of piece by a certain time, it makes me fight through the cloudiness that writer's block sometimes offers and instead put my nose to the grind and turn out something worthwhile.  Of course, I also have those epiphany moments where a plot strikes me and I keep adding more and more to it in my head until I can't help but scribe it out.  Finally, there are those occasions when I'm struggling to come up with a concept and I just start writing.  I pick a random name and a random locale and a random mindset and I run with it.  Usually I get a couple paragraphs in and don't feel it, and I scrap it.  But sometimes it's exactly what I need and it turns into something fruitful.

 

I'd love to hear what everyone else has to say about the topic!

[Mikiesboy]

Often they just come to me. But just as often its a prompt of some sort ... one of the Friday Prompts, or something i see on the news. Changes, comes from a headline or article i read years ago about life changing events. So it could be anything from anywhere. Sometimes it's me wondering how i can put my spin on something old and overdone ... like zombies or vampires or fairy tales.

 

[Valkyrie]

My inspiration comes from a variety of sources.  My first completed story was the result of a prompt response that grew into a longer work.  "The Hollow Hills" was based on characters I created in high school and had been in my head since then.  I've written stories based on magazine articles, computer games, or as the answer to a question I found interesting.  Sometimes real life is the inspiration and other times it materializes out of thin air.  I'm with you on the deadlines.  I tend to be more productive if I know there's a looming deadline.  

[Carlos Hazday]

Real life and current events. Paying attention to what happens around me tends to spark the creative juices.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Carlos Hazday

[Superpride]

My plots mostly come from a simple concept that is either fantastical or futuristic like normal humans gaining superhuman abilities from a mythical object or substance.  I then expand on the concept, building everything like the characters, plot, and setting in my head, so much until, like you, I have to write it down.  I also get inspiration from the strangest places, like I will watch an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, and a random aspect inspires a domino effect in my head with bigger dominoes falling down until I come up with a new concept for a story that I want to then write or for an already preexisting story.  Moments like that helped me with my story, Sweetheart, West Virginia since I was stuck with how to continue it.  I also want to convey a message with my stories, which like the concepts, I expand upon until a story has been created around the message that I hope isn't too blatant or vague to the readers.

[Cole Matthews]

I'm usually inspired by watching someone and creating a story about them.  It usually takes several different other things to come together as a coherent whole, but my plots are very character-driven. 

 

Porcupines came from watching a security guard that looked very lonely at his post.  The Art of Being Gay came from a person at my bar who was telling a story, and I filled in the cracks and he became the main character.  Button was inspired by two fathers and a little boy on their way to the Pride parade.  My detective, Rush, is the culmination of my wondering about the first boy I ever kissed.   

 

This is interesting.  

 

 

[Thorn Wilde]

Sooo many different things. For me a story can start with a single sentence, a person I saw in the street, a conversation I had with someone... Or it can spring from something I’ve read or seen (not in the sense of copying, more in the sense of, hey, that’s an interesting premise, what if I do this instead?), or it can be inspired by current events, politics, or my own lived experiences. Often, an idea just hits me in the shower. A lot of stories are born in the shower.

 

All ideas come from somewhere. Nothing new under the sun and so on. A lot of the time when stories seem to come out of nowhere, I think it’s that our subconscious remembers something our conscious minds don’t. I do know that I never sit down and think, ‘I’m gonna write a story.’ It’s always, ‘I’m gonna write a story about this.’ I don’t look for things to write about. Things to write about come to me.

[Krista]

Different things, ideas that I like. I write Romances, so I really like coming of age, coming out, etc stories. Especially if they're in circumstances that aren't ideal or seemingly ideal for gay characters to come out. Although, I feel that we're getting better with acceptance so those stories are starting to get a bit dull for me to write, probably why I'm not really writing at all right now.

 

I like the idea of doing a historical romance of some sort.

 

Also, I do like paranormal ideas as well as Fantasy, but most of those come from established genres. I kind of do/kind of don't want to do a Vampire/Werewolf/Warlock/Witch story. I've had the idea in my head for awhile. I also like Angels, which is a fantasy that comes from other established authors that I've read.

 

I do get ideas from songs, movies, real life, etc. You can't walk through life as a, 'writer' and not be influenced by some of these or all of them to be honest. 

[Nick Brady]

My stories generally grow from the recollection of some real-life experience. Nick's Story from a time when I had a membership in the Tulsa YMCA, Marco was inspired by a Native American boy I lusted after, Carhops from a time as a kid when I worked as a carhop with young black boy, etc. The adventures and more erotic aspects of the stories are almost all fictional, but the setting and characters have some basis in my own experiences. 

 

The idea for the story begins with imagining the characters and the situation they are in, and imagining what they will do and say. To be honest, I do not start out with any specific idea of where the story will go except in very general terms. If I have a clear idea of the main characters - their strengths and weaknesses, their personality, their hopes and fears, the way they complement and interact with each other - they become very real to me and they tell me their story. If I understand these characters I can imagine what direction they will take the story and I simply write it down. So the character is the first aspect in the development of my writing.

 

The plot is equally as important. Interesting characters in a story that doesn't go anywhere is unsatisfying. A good story populated by superficial or uninteresting characters is likewise. The story and the characters have to be realistic - have to pass the sniff test, if you will. I could never write Fantasy although I admire those who can. As my writing has matured I find that my idea of a good story is one which would still be a good story even if the erotic parts are held to a bare minimum (pun intended). Sex scenes are best included to define the characters and advance the plot, lest the story disintegrates into the genre of jerk-off fantasy. Such things can interfere with the flow of the story. If a reader tells me that they fast-forwarded through some gratuitous eroticism to get on with the story I take it as a compliment.

 

In retrospect, I see that there are some recurring themes in my writing. That individuals who would not appear to be a good fit find that their differences complement each other like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. That being gay is only part of who they are. That decency and kindness are the overriding traits that are the most important. That imperfections are part of us all. That we get by with a little help from our friends. That a friend is someone who knows all about us and loves us anyway.

 

I began writing fiction almost twenty years ago when Nifty was about the only place I knew of where I could post my awkward first attempts at writing. I started receiving comments from readers who were kind enough to be encouraging and who sometimes made suggestions or asked thought-provoking questions. That has often influenced the direction and details of my stories, to be honest. When I reposted most of my stories to Gay Authors I also got a few comments from the readers here and have appreciated them. I am encouraged by the expansion of the forums here (like this one) where we can communicate and encourage each other. Writing a story and posting it on the internet is like sailing a paper airplane out into the universe and wondering if anyone noticed. It's nice to know we are not alone.

[W_L]

Mine come from the inner mind and the outer limits

 

I love history and science fiction, mythology and human interest. The plots of my stories deal with contemporary issues and ancient issues that will never go away.

 

In terms of plot formation, like say I was prompted to write about "Strangers in the Night":

 

I'd look at the concept and breakdown what my subjects are: beings outside of normal interactions, foreigners to the observer.

 

I'd write list of things that can fall into those categories for a stranger to an observer:

Aliens

Vampirres

Androids

Mutants

lonely gay guys

 

Then, I think about settings that evoke night:

Space

Evening

Caves

Dance Parties with loud music and a single strobe lights

 

Then, I organize character and setting to create the plot:

 

A lone surviving alien boy from a species of androids, who live on the blood/life-force of organic beings has been living on Earth pretending to be a normal human boy. However, one night his life changed at a Dance party, where the strobe lights strikes a hauntingly beautiful boy, who turns out to be a mutant, who lives in a cave to hide his true nature. ...

 

.....Something like that

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by W_L

[MrM]

I may have an overall theme that the plot comes to define. One of my favorite themes is love surviving death. So, I'll construct plots to illustrate this theme.

 

[Brayon]

"Lots of different places." - Connor Macleod, of the clan Macleod - Highlander (1986).

 

Some plots are old table-top Role-playing game campaigns. Some are inspired by things I've read. Some just hit me while I'm in the bathroom in the shower. Some are the voices in my head telling me what to write. Not the ones that tell me to go dominate the world, but that's a different story. Sometimes a song, tv show, movie, might spark an idea. Reading over my old work, I might get inspired to do something. Reading a "Hetero" romance book, and saying, "Hmm this is good, let's do it full of gay sex."

 

So, yeah, "Lots of different places."

[Thorn Wilde]

22 hours ago, BHopper2 said:

Reading a "Hetero" romance book, and saying, "Hmm this is good, let's do it full of gay sex."

Lol! I totally do this. I think, 'This isn't gay enough.' 

Edited February 16, 2019 by Thorn Wilde

[Wayne Gray]

One of my best works centered around a guy who was homeless, and struggling, though he tried hard to retain his pride and to keep his head up.  That plotline and that character were born from how I saw a homeless man treated on the street - how judgment was instant, and how he was reduced to a thing of disgust and distrust.

 

Simply stated, I draw inspiration from the real world, and the situations which I deem unnecessary if a little more understanding and empathy were present.

 

This is a good topic.  Thanks for starting it.