Ah, the eternal question. Right after “So, are you still writing that book?” and “How many personalities live in your head?” comes the fan favorite:
“Where do you get your ideas?”
Short answer? Everywhere.
Long answer? From trauma, late-night existential dread, ADHD hyperfixations, and that one weird dream I had in 2009 about a haunted vending machine.
Some writers outline. Some channel divine inspiration. I stare at the ceiling until a sentence shows up and threatens to leave if I don’t write it down immediately. Sometimes, when the muse is not speaking to me, I will get a writing prompt from any of a million sources. Other times, it honestly seems like they get pulled straight out of my ass.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of places I’ve gotten actual story ideas from:
A song that hit just right in the Target parking lot.
Something my kid said that stuck with me for far too long, and I had to get it out of my head.
That time I misread a headline and thought it said “Local woman finds portal in produce aisle.”
One very awkward therapy session (I wish I could forget that one—but it demanded to be drawn out)
Dreams. Nightmares. Daydreams. Nighttime overthinking marathons. (Rhonda gets a lot of hers from dreams.)
The rage I feel when I watch a movie or read a book and yell, “I could write that better.”
Ideas don’t come from a tidy drawer labeled “Creative Thoughts Only.” They come from the messy, raw, real-life stuff that’s stuck to the bottom of your soul like gum under a diner table.
So if you’ve ever thought, “I could never write, I don’t have any ideas…”
You do. You just haven’t seen them for what they are yet.
Keep your eyes open.
Keep a notebook nearby.
And for the love of snacks, don’t ignore the idea that shows up while you’re shampooing. That one’s gold.
💬 Your Turn:
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve gotten an idea from? Drop it in the comments and let’s trade chaos fuel. Bonus points if it involves snacks, trauma, or bathroom epiphanies.
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