Where do you get your inspiration?

[Brovo]

I go step by step because the simpler and more formulaic it is, the easier it is to do and the more often it can be replicated.

[Rilla]

Dunno really. Sometimes, I just get inspired to make things.

[CrookedCookie]

Well I know one way that doesn't work for a lot of people:

[Gerra]

Take a look at my sig if you are having writer's block. You can use any of those. I'm totally cool with it. Where do I get the ideas?

Witch Hunt was inspired by my love of cryptids, mythology, and scifi with fantasy setting.

Bermuda Triangle came from my fascination of the mystery of the place.

Subway Wreck I got the idea while playing a game called "I Am Alive" about a man who is searching for his wife and daughter in a dust storm, earthquake, famine, and drought plagued NYC. One part you are underground and you have to climb along a busted subway car. Its crazy. Oh, and a friend was talking to me about ghosts.

The Rook came from watching an episode of Heroes where Hiro and Ando rescue someone from a mental hospital.

Superheroes....DUH! Marvel and DC. I have a huge Marvel poster on my wall next to my desk.

Fantasy High was just something I was in the mood for.

Immortals was inspired by Thor, Superman, and Hancock. And also the idea of redemption and the value of life.

So...yeah. Please, use them! Tell me though, as I would like to see how it plays out.

[MelonHead]

Cereal boxes...

0.0

[Zedar]

Expose your mind to everything. Every medium can contribute to the depth of a character or story, and I take pieces from the sum of all of my inspirations--this makes it very hard for me to give you a specific answer when to the question you're asking.

I listen to as much music as possible, and while I do fall into slumps where I listen to the same old stuff until I burn out on it, I always, always look for something new to keep my mind going. Music is very important to me, and keeps my ideas fresh for what I want my characters to be and what I want them to do.

Half-baked ideas are still in the oven. I don't just pull them out and throw them away. Sometimes I have all of the pieces to a story but one, and it will elude me for sometimes years until I find a little snippet of thought that puts it all together in a way I can make work.

I always maintain a playground, an organic space where people can come and go and contribute to a melting-pot of plot and atmosphere. I'm glad to have found the Seaside Tavern so quickly when I arrived here. It will always be somewhere I can dangle my toes when things are slow.

Finally, I always make sure to take up stories that might be somewhat out of my comfort zone. I just got involved with the Aquernoma story and it is definitely not something I expect to be fantastic, but any practice is good practice, and hopefully the people I'm working with will inspire me to inspire them and things will be bananas.

[bigboss]

I take a lot of notes. I'm almost never without a small notepad so that an idea comes I just scribble it down. I find that most of my ideas come at the most inopportune times so the notepad approach has served me well.

As writer's block goes I generally start pilfering through all of the piles of books, magazines, video games, sketches, movies, and television shows that I have. I find that most of my inspiration comes from a mishmash of all of those things combined. I also try to take from reality as much as anything else. You would be amazed at what you can see in a person you know as an acquaintance that may make a fascinating character in your story or a place that might serve as a worthy setting for your characters. Though I primarily take from real life as reference for my art, i feel it has just as much application toward writing as well.

[Asperser]

So tell me: What inspires your roleplays?

I go to the books, pictures, music, movies, anime, mangas/comics that left an impression on me and go from there. I usually start with a piece of music to get me in the mood, a picture or photo for imagery, and a good piece of writing to get my vocabulary working. All three form an idea, whatever it is I want to be writing about, and it works out somehow in the end.

[KaMiKaZe JoE]

Nothing specific, really. Just what I happen to be doing at the time.

Often, this. It sucks because inspiration will strike like lighting, but without the clouds and rain to give me some warning.

Also, as others have pointed out, other stories. Anything with a cool story, or hell, something with a crappy story but an interesting, say, character or way of implementing magic will be a good source of inspiration.

[HeySeuss]

Read books.

If you are in a writing slump, you at least are still exercising your mind. I've always gotten a lot out of various history books, but my reading list is most certainly not limited to that. I even did an RP that was inspired by "Eichmann in Jerusalem," by Hannah Arendt, which is to say that almost any book can provide ideas.