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Sep 2016

Where or from what do you get inspired by to write your stories?

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    Sep '16
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    Sep '16
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I've always been a big fan of action based comics with comedy in them. People getting hit or blown up or any sort of thing like that. I'm also influenced by manga, so it ends up being a combination of those two things that I draw influence from haha! I watch a lot of tv, read comics and read manga lol

I'm inspired by a combination of shounen style manga and western cartoon comedies (like Rick and Morty, Regular show and Gravity Falls)

Film/TV and especially music. For me nothing gets me figuring out what a scene looks like or feels like without having some music that puts images into my head. Even for new story ideas, just putting music on and trying to form a story or an image or a character around what I hear. It's like you're reverse engineering a movie in your head. You hear the music, and now you gotta come up with the visuals. It's kinda like what Disney artists do for Fantasia! blush

A number of sources- TV shows, anime, cartoons, other comic books, various articles that I read pertaining to certain subjects that pique my interest.

Like... this is such a hard question to answer, because for me inspiration tends to be unexpected. Something HITS me, and it's INTERESTING, and I want to investigate it. I'm not being hit by inspiration 24/7, but it can hit me from anywhere.

My attempt to convey how this thought process works:

(from this post)

In regards to that illustration, I find that a lot of inspiration is just a part of a larger conversation with other bodies of work.
Much of my work is an exploration of already existing ideas/stories and a twist or expansion on them.

I think this is totally it. Inspiration can come from literally anywhere. I suppose the way to cultivate inspiration is to develop a receptiveness and curiosity when it comes to learning and experiencing new things. I get ideas for my story from life experiences, from fictional mediums, and even non-fictional stuff like the news, history, something I studied in college, etc. Its important to spread your influences wide, so you have something unique to bring to the table.

I get inspired by reading books, comics and watching movies/tv... and real life of course!

But I like to think I am being active in my viewing. My husband and I like to talk about story building and character development, so a show gives us a chance to really dig deep into it. Reading a novel always gets my imagination going and gives me a springboard to add in my story.

With comics, always looking at how the page flows. Studying how writing and art combine together.

I don't. I sit down and brainstorm.
I have a method which is picking a subject then try to come up with a joke around it. I come up with 3 jokes to make an arc then a one off to clear my mind.
Rinse and repeat.

Most of my inpiration though... has been from my youth. I had this strange skill that made me remember a lot of dreams in the past. And in such detail, I could write pages all morning after every night! Nowadays, it's a bit slimmed down. Cause of all the hard work and lazyness. XD But I occassionally daydream and see myself walking around in a new situation with things that could happen or go wrong. I like to think different and look at things with all kinds of different perspectives.
Ofcourse, Inpiration is often manipulated depending where the external sources come from. If I want to daydream that I'm flying, heck ya, seeya in the sky!

literally anything. I could be walking in a train station and be inspired by a weird person or a tree, or an image on a sign. I once found a design doodled on a desk in my high school and used it for design inspiration.

im the same as joannekwan
i get inspiration from almost anything and everything- including my own emotions
the only thing i DON'T get inspiration from is schoolwork 0 - 0

hmmm thoughts?? for my current series its just me venting, but generally ill just think up a thing then stuff happens

pretty much anything! i find specific inspirations related to the story itself and then there's art inspirations that inspire me to draw the story. the webcomic idea i'm working on right now is mythological, so i get specific inspiration from reading philosophical texts and my favorite myths, like Norse mythology.

then there are my art inspirations. fantasy comics with whimsical atmospheres, like A Matter of Life and Death, Slavonica, Spire, and The Firelight Aisle, really inspire me to draw more. and a few favorite artists too, like kinomatika, freckled-knights, lousysharkbutt...and way more but i don't feel like going through all 261 blogs i follow lol.

music is also inspirational if i can relate it to one of my characters. I Am Machine by Three Days Grace, Feel Invincible by Skillet, Control by Halsey, Undisclosed Desires by Muse, Unbreakable by Fireflight...there's a lot of good ones that i listen to and can picture the character(s) perfectly.

and there's also inspiration to be gathered from reading tutorials, watching educational videos, and just examining what other artists and writers do in their work. like @shazzbaa said in the picture, i'll read something and think 'ooh i should have a character or couple like that'. CinemaSins in particular has really made me go through my story and pick out all the plot holes and overused cliches.

Ethics inspires me. I studied it at University and I find it fascinating. You'll find my current project on the surface looks like a cheesy superhero comic, and that's part of the fun. However, I'm aiming to tackle juxtaposed ethical stances, not just between the heroes and villains, but between every character.

What makes an action 'good'? Does it come down to the desire to do good? Or is it only the outcome which yield good results, regardless of the motivation? I could touch on the bigger pictures such as the conflicting stances of Utilitarianism vs. Deontology. Issue 3 coming has an ethical quandary which I hope readers can debate over. I feel Superhero comics are a great medium to work with these ethical conundrums because you can dramatise and exaggerate them to an extreme level.

On a visual level I find myself inspired by the extreme end of comic book art, athletic poses and potent builds. Again the Superhero genre I find especially good for building an all-round talent in comic artistry, because you not only get to draw people standing around but you also get to put them in such a variety of athletic poses and really get to know how the body and muscles look in them.

I have notebooks and lists full of random stupid thoughts I have during the day that I could potentially make into a story

Inspiration usually strikes when I'm in the middle of an important meeting at work; y'know, the ones that require my utmost attention. Or late at night when I'm trying to fall asleep...