Not sure if a thread like this has been done before, so I apologise if this is a rehash.

I thought it would be good to delve into the minds of some of the writers on SS by asking how people find inspiration and how they approach a new project.

Do people go, okay time to write and ‘force’ something out just to write, or like me do people wait to be inspired?

So for me personally, I seem to be inspired by the simplest little idea, but once it takes hold the rest of the process really happens quite quickly.

For example, my script Lullaby I got from an episode of The Shield. There was a girl sitting on a swing and I thought the squeaking sound it made was quiet creepy.

Another one, my partner made me listen to a song about imaginary friends that she wanted to play for her niece and bang My Imaginary Friend hit me like a tidal wave.

My ideas generally come to me fully formed. I obviously still need to flesh out the dialogue and intricacies of a scene but for the most part I usually have a complete picture right from the get go.

I understand this might be a personal process but I though it would be an interesting discussion.

I'm getting back to writing after years of being away from it. Still trying to recapture the discipline I used to have - Start Writing at 5:00 PM and keep going as long as I can. Stop when I still have one more idea to put down. That's where to start next time I sit down.

I keep index cards (3x5 cards) at hand. If I have an idea I jot it down. Training my brain never to reject an idea. Sometimes I find myself staring at a card that says something that I think can't possibly be fleshed out into a story. But at least I'mm trying.

It really depends on why people write as well.

For me it is, and will always be a hobby, something I do for fun, so I can wait to be inspired. Where someone who would like to turn it into a career would have to be more disciplined.

I suppose being able to sit down and punch out a script 'on demand' is what separates the amateurs from the pros in a lot of ways.

For me it's both. I really enjoy the process, including disciplining myself to write for a certain amount of hours. I too need to be inspired, but I'm inspired so much that I need an ideas board that is filled with tacked on notes. Each one, a little bit of inspiration just ready to take form. There are some that I just keep in my head. All I have to do is think about one of those ideas and stories happen. Sometimes though, I scrap almost completed ideas. The amount of executions I've scrapped at 70+ pages I've lost count of. But then I restart. If I don't write for a week then I start to get withdrawal symptoms. It's like a drug, something I need to do.

I get that, the whole creative process can be very consuming, I often find it hard to tear myself away.

My inspiration comes from all around, news articles, tech innovations, songs, over hearing conversations, podcasts, other tv/films etc...

What usually happens is my head isolates a specific element, connects it with a different random thought and voila a new 'what if'.

For example my short fridge feeder came from reading an article about internet connected appliances shortly after watching the film Robot Frank, my mind combined the two into AI fridge that just wanted to help.

I keep a track of every idea in Evernote, so I can add/amend/access on any device, currently 300 short ideas, 140 features, and 20 TV.

Obviously some of the ideas are just fragments, some will be rubbish etc but when I sit down to write something new I scroll through the ideas and see which resonates most.

Anthony

460 writing ideas, that's impressive!

I'm lucky if I'm throwing around more than 3 ideas, total, at a time.

I have a notepad on my PC with a handful of ideas, probably just a couple of them I'd consider "good". For example, I have one that would be a short, taking place in the 50's, where two vacuum cleaner salesmen go door to door, demonstrate the vacuum's power by removing an eye from whoever answers. They then urge the victim to buy from them, or else they'll be back to finish the job.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking, but whenever I get these bat shit ideas I have to write them down, haha.

I have well over 100... probably be easier to go digital though. They're overlapping each other on the cork board I have for the job.

I like using Evernote for it as I can see it on iPade, desktop, mobile, and I can tag and filter stuff... Makes it easier to sort them.

Sure there's other apps/programs that you could use, be more portable than a corcboard! (Though there are a few corkboard apps too!)

Warren, a few appear in multiple categories as I'm not sure if they are best as TV or Film... So only about 400 individual ideas ;-)

Anthony

I just keep a list of random idea on a word file as they come to me. Also keep a piece of scratch paper and a pen on a desk because many ideas come to me at night while waking from sleep and I need a place to jot it down because I will forget it by morning. Sometimes it will just be a phrase or a title. e.g., two nights ago for some odd reason I thought of "Nun of The Above" as a title. Not sure where I will go with it but it went on the idea list.  

Quoted from eldave1 I thought of "Nun of The Above" as a title. Not sure where I will go with it but it went on the idea list.

Sounds like a good one for midget porn.

Quoted from DustinBowcot Sounds like a good one for midget porn.

That would work

Ideas are never the problem for me. The problem is planning and discipline. It's easy for shorts, when I come up with the idea I basically have the whole story and all the characters in my head. Sometimes I can go from getting the idea to writing it to finishing it in a couple hours.

Features are another matter entirely. This is where my master procrastination skills come into play. I will find any reason to put off writing. Including having my brain come up with really great ideas for other stuff to write. The closer I get to finishing a feature (and thus the harder it is to write), the more amazing ideas my mind thinks up to lure me into working on something easier.

Inspiration is easy for me. I want to be better than everyone because I hate everyone

Dustin, I think I'm going to run with the notes tacked on a board idea, so just one note with my 3 ideas, I hope I can keep track.

James, I definitely know how easy it is to be distracted, I have two features I've been working on for what feels like forever, every time I try get back to them I'm distracted by an 'easier' short. oh well, one day.

Brandon, funny but true.

Anthony, well 400, that's a completely different story:)