In generating story concepts I was quite passive. I was waiting for a good idea to hit me. Well, you can guess what happened. I waited and waited and waited for that idea not able to begin on a story. Things changed when I read more about creativity and how to evoke ideas. To be able to conceive good ideas you have to be active, maybe not always consciously searching for a good idea but at least have an open mind and recognize an idea as we stroll through life. This post is a good reminder for me to look actively for some ideas and expand my idea box so that I can choose from the best one. Where will I look? the first thing that comes to mind is media. What's happening around us. Scott, you also mentioned something as genre bending and other things, I think I'm going to try that for once. As you mentioned in the previous post why not generate one idea a day and pick the best one when we're in the prep phase. I'm up for that. Thanks for the reminder not to be too easy in our choice and challenge ourselves more. The more active, the more ideas you can generate.

Fairly intentional. I keep a journal for scribbling kernels of ideas, trying to see if something pops into a worthy story concept. Maybe I note a phrase, a potential (hopefully catchy) title, maybe it's some sort of character I find intriguing, or a particular place. Sometimes I use a nudge from some folktale or legend/myth .. or from history, like I might note: "explore D.B. Cooper" or "what would a modern day Calamity Jane look like?" Something like that. Some kernels are only a few words/phrases. Others warrant scribbling 3-5 sentences or questions. Others may have me rambling for a page or more. Whether an idea is truly a CONCEPT worth exploring to see if there's a whole story there is ... well, it's not as many of the "kernels" as I might like. My other very intentional method of generating concepts is what my husband and I dubbed "The Movie Game". It gets played nearly every road trip and generally during my driving shift. He'll give me the names of actors/actresses (2-4 of them) and name a typical genre. Then I have so many miles (or hours) to conjure up a movie story idea and pitch it to him. Some are downright awful!! I cringe when he says "sci-fi" or "mockumentary", but I boldly try anyway and then beg for a new assignment. Others have warranted further exploration. One has become a feature-length script, about to go through its -- geez, I've lost count -- 4th or 5th major revision. It's fun .. and beneficial. The last time we played, his third "assignment" to me was strictly the name of the small city we'd just spent the weekend in. Taking other kernels of stuff we'd talked about over the weekend, I already have about 30 pages of notes in a comp book exploring this particular indie movie idea.

I'm a bolt of lightening kind of girl who gets assaulted by brilliant concepts all the time and jumps on them. It must be the jumping part that knocks out the thunder because those ideas turn into wet 4th of July sparklers. But there's always some small spark in there somewhere. I can't find it, but it can be felt. The Reticular Activating System of the brain works 24/7 on problem solving, so I'll sometimes sacrifice all for my art by putting a hunk of chocolate on my tongue and slowly letting it melt, imagining the chocolate as the hidden concept seeping into the RAS. Boy, we do suffer for our art :-) Most of the time I'm like Shari and on alert. In "real life" I'm very quiet, the wallflower who sits back from the crowd and watches, making up stories about the people I see and wondering how they clash and collide with others in the room/restaurant/party. I do take elements of story I've learned about and try to make them into something out of what I've observed, but that never works. What does work is taking part in #writeclub or some other speed challenge where I don't have time to think, just write. That turns into a mess with some sparks that I then try to explain to someone I trust. It's the process of putting things in some form that communicates that I'll say something accidentally that crystallizes the concept. When my feet hit the floor in the morning, that's when the events come to mind. I also have three scripts that have either been optioned or placed or whatever that are still baffling. There's zero memory of where the idea came from or even memory of having written them. The editing I'll never forget.

The concepts seem to emerge from everywhere - the issue that usually creates havoc is the flow of concepts that won't stop. I'm reminded of that great line in AMADEUS - "Too many notes, Mozart, too many notes!" And wouldn't you know, I ADORE Mozart. So recently I tried looking at opera - to try and find simpler concepts in great works. So far, Verdi's Aida has worked pretty well. And of course, the wonderful insights offered by Mr. Scott Myers and the talented folks who congregate here. Thank you all!

I'm a daydreamer. I was that kid that would spend hours staring off into a blank sky or looking at a rock, not moving or saying a word...but man, there was so much going on! I've been fortunate to retain much of that creative instinct, and find ideas are always percolating. Turning those ideas into something with more substance and form than a daydream, however, can be a difficult task. I've found that some of my best work has come out of assignments and contests, where I was given the elements to use and a deadline. It gets me out of my own head a bit.

This is an interesting discussion… with some stuff I’ll have to try out sometime. For me, the hardest part is not so much the generating concepts as the remembering/not losing concepts. I used to think, if an idea was really great, I couldn’t forget it. Wrong. So tragically wrong. I also have a notebook of concepts, but I transfer them to the Save the Cat! app now. Even if you don’t embrace that approach to screenwriting, the app and desktop software provide some great tools. First, you can keep your ideas simultaneously in both versions (home and away) and add to whatever ideas you have as they strike you. Having stuff on two locations has saved my bacon a few times! I use Evernote that way as well. I HATE to lose a notebook. I also have “Idea Monday,” when I deliberately spend an hour trying to beef up the concepts/loglines I already have – which keeps them all fresh in my brain. “Frantic Friday” is an hour spent brainstorming new concepts. There’s a bit of a system to it. Start with what I’ve seen lately and HATED. How would I write that? Then, take that and stand it on its head every way I can think of. I have a list of possible permutations and I shove it through the entire thing. Then I look at films I really LOVED, figure out what it was I loved, shove that through the list of stuff, and see what pops out the other side. Mostly, however, I find that creativity begets creativity. When I’m working hard on one project is when I’ll have good ideas for another – I think my brain does it to lure me away from work to play with the new toy. I just subvert my natural talent for procrastination! So, when I’m working, I allow myself 10 seconds to write down the gist of a new thing and leave it until later. It’s amazing how many of them I’ll have when the writing is really working! I have one "impossible script" that I'll drag out when I'm really stuck for a new idea. And I eavesdrop, shamelessly. I’ve even been known to walk up to people having a particularly interesting chat and ask a question or too. I’m a dialogue thief as well – though I do advise you to do that less blatantly, maybe not while staring at them with a notebook on your knee. ;)

So many concepts for me come out of real life - I hear the same story over and over again or I see something in the news or I see universal themes being played out again and again in people's lives - and I cherry pick the idea, the concept, and from there I twist it up into something for an audience. The original concepts hit me left and right and come straight from life!

I sort of forgot one thing yesterday - I ask people what movie they'd like to see if they could see *anything* at the theater.

An interesting array of approaches. It goes to show that just as there is no right way to write, there is no one right way to generate story concepts. However I do STRONGLY recommend this: Be proactive. Try this: For one month, commit yourself to spending a half-hour each day working up story concepts. Whether it's just you sitting with a pad of paper and pen, noodling with ideas, flipping through the yellow pages to look at a variety of jobs to see if something pokes out at you, going through loglines in Halliwell's film guide, reading obituaries, browsing through unusual online news sources, whatever it is, each day for a month, commit the time to proactively conjure up story ideas. The premise: To get your brain used to doing that. I find that if I've got at least one track of my mind on the 'lookout' for story ideas, I'm much more in tune with that process and more apt to sense them. Also I believe the hard work you do in conscious effort can pay off in those moments where you're showering or out of run or standing in the grocery line, when -- BOOM! The idea suddenly hits you.