#Idea Generation

[writingwithfolklore]

15 Ways to Spark a New Idea

Revisit an old project

Take inspiration from classic stories/folk tales

Follow your interests

Start with genre (or a unique combination)

Start with a character

Start with setting

Combine or reinvent some classic tropes

Ask someone to share a story they don’t usually tell (be curious about the people around you)

Use something from your past

Focus on a hard to define feeling

Experience something new

Brainstorm with a writing friend

Read outside of your comfort zone

Talk to a stranger about their life

Twist the normal, normalize the magical

[wordysmith101]

Need some ideas.

What do you think would happen if adult Kazekage Gaara turns into a kid by sheer accident. Lets say accidentally got caught on a trap or seal? Shinki and Shikadai are already in the picture.

What if Gaara has no memories? What if he does?

What you think?

[blackrosesandwhump]

How to Whump Your Hero (or Villain)!

For those times when you have the perfect whumpable hero or villain and don't know what to do with them. Use this generator to get ideas!

You have your character. What do you use to whump them?

Axe

Bandages

Barbed wire

Blindfold

Branding iron

Cage

Chains

Club

Coffin

Collar

Dagger

Drugs

Duct tape

Fishing line

Gag

Garrote

Gibbet

Handcuffs

Hatchet

Knife

Manacles

Operating Table

Oxygen mask

Pistol

Pitchfork

Plastic

Poison

Rapier

Rope

Scalpel

Scythe

Spear

Straightjacket

Stitches

Sword

Syringe

Taser

Whip

Using this random number generator, for example I get #5 Branding iron. Time for some painful branding for my poor villain!

Happy writing!

[bettsfic]

how do you flesh out an idea into a real story, when the idea is simply a question or theme? I feel like there is many ways to take a story when your idea is broad like this.

i've answered similar asks like this that you can find in my process tag and idea generation tag. i think i probably addressed it most closely in this ask.

it's a very interesting coincidence you asked me this, anon, because i just finished a novella whose plot is cobbled together by 3 ideas in a trenchcoat. they were all half-formed concepts that never came together on their own but i still really liked them and held onto them. i think the earliest one was from 2016? unlike a lot of my other stories, i did kind of brute force this one but i think it came out okay! we'll see if my early readers vibe with it or are just "what the fuck, betts." (furry ghost story!)

in the post i linked, i talk about "the easy, long road" of vague ideas, which feels a bit like hoarding, keeping useless things believing you'll one day need them for something. except they don't take up any space, and the good ones end up sticking with you and you *do* end up using them. i think i always take the short, hard road at first, thinking something magical will happen, but i always end up losing steam. that said, whatever i jot down ends up being really helpful when i finally do manage to use an old idea.

i agree, there are many ways to take a story when your idea is broad. it's like being handed a block of wood and you have to carve it down into something but you have no idea what. if you're feeling really compelled, you can make it happen just by getting started. if you're not, you just kind of have to wait until you figure out what it is you want to carve, and do it with more intention than the other option.

i think a long time ago i wrote about "aesthetic piles" but i can't find that post. the idea there is that you create a working title for your theme or question (furry ghost story [actual title "little thousand"] was "dog-eared" for several years), and whenever you watch or read something that fits the aesthetic of that thing, you add it to the pile. eventually you'll put something on the pile that topples it over, and that's when you can start writing it.

and sometimes you end up writing something and realize later that it answers that question or addresses that theme you'd wanted to pursue ages ago. i guess that's the good thing about broad ideas: they're not just single stories, they're generally your core subject matter, things you'll come back to again and again, and concepts you'll pursue whether you intend to or not. i wrote a little bit about developing your Project in a previous newsletter.

[artist-ellen]

i loveee the epic: the musical design idea!! your ancient greek mermaid has actually been my headcanon hera and played into my headcanon circe since i saw it (and i have also been on the epic listen, i’ve had no longer you on repeat for weeks).

also just wanted to say that the mermaid designs are stunning, i get excited every time i see one!! really well thought out and a gorgeous mix of the historical garments/culture and mermaid/fantasy vibe

I am so excited about the epic: the musical ideas that I've had. Even if no one else likes them my brain has had so much fun cooking them up. My greek mermaid as inspiration isn't such a bad idea...

I've listened to 'No Longer You' so often that if I walk away from Youtube too long it will autoplay without prompting now. (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

I'm so glad you all seem to really like the mermaids! I had lots of fun making them, and hopefully you guys like the coloring book too!

[thinking-outside-the-giftbox18]

Ideas I ma- Okay, this one I want EVERYONE to see [HLVRAI AU/Scenario Edition]

BLACK MESA FIGHT CLUB AU, run by Dr. Coomer who later invites Gordon into the club. It's one where they let out their fighting spirit and are taught by a boxing expert (Coomer). It IS inspired by TADC FIGHT CLUB AU but I WANNA see Benrey in his fight gear and being super serious about beating the shit out of somebody.

-Giftbox/Prince

[kmfmpyear2]

Idea 1! (Games Research)

Ghost Of Tsushima!

Ghostrunner!

[nitrosodiumfmpsequel]

Game Idea 3 - Steel Wanderer

This idea focuses more on the 'abandoned' aspect of my research. It'd be a point-and-click isometric game, similar to Diablo or the early Fallout games, and you'd play as some sort of droid that has come awake after society's collapse. Everything is demolished and overgrown, and your goal is to explore around, manage your resources, and figure out where humanity has gone.

Here is a mind map to better explain my ideas:

[recsspecs]

Good students, on the other hand, constantly raise the bar for themselves

as they focus on what they haven’t learned and mastered yet. This is why high achievers who have had a taste of the vast amount of knowledge out there are likely to suffer from what psychologists call imposter syndrome, the feeling that you are not really up to the job, even though, of all people, they are (Clance and Imes 1978; Brems et al. 1994).

- How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens)

[ethanfmp]

Idea 2: Malevolent Forest Deity Game

So this will initially look like the strangest combination of keywords you will see on this blog however is saw something quite unique with these 3. The keywords for this game are Lorax, H. P Lovecraft & Curses, Now when I see these 3 words my immediate thought was of a godlike ancient potentially evil deity who's job is to take care of and look over nature and forestry, similar to that of the Lorax. I had the idea of human encroachment leading to the disturbance of this deity who then released a curse onto humanity as a form of defence and or attack on the population in retaliation.

Now this is likely also the broadest in game potential as this description could be that of any game movie or book genre. While these keywords stood out to me instantly and I felt strongly about the creative potential this caused me to struggle to actually pinpoint an idea for the game however after some thinking I decided to look into this idea for it

Perhaps my favourite game genre, or sub is souls likes, and it would be my absolute passion to one day create an amazing souls like. However I don't believe that I have enough time to create a game such as that. The main reason for that is because with a souls like u have to make new things constantly, what I mean by this is as you progress you will encounter a new boss every time, sometimes over 100 bosses in these types of game, and rarely find repeating enemies as you move through new zones each time, and while creating a pack of unique bosses would certainty be an interesting way to go with this I want to come out of this with a cohesive and relatively well fleshed out game. It is because of these factors that I have decided that if I am to create a good game within that time frame I would like to focus on minimizing the workload by creating a gameplay loop. Here is my idea for how I might bring this to light.

The game is set in a world where a once thriving forest is now being destroyed by human activity. As a consequence, the Forest Deity, a powerful ancient being, unleashes a plague upon humanity. The environment has become corrupted, and mutated creatures roam the land, making survival difficult.

Players take control of a single character who must navigate this harsh, hostile world, survive against the plague’s effects, and either contain or escape the devastation.

Core Gameplay Features:

The game world is procedurally generated, with distinct biomes like corrupted forests, dangerous swamps, and ruins of former human settlements. Each playthrough offers a new experience, with the plague spreading differently every time, creating dynamic challenges and forcing players to adapt.

Players need to scavenge resources such as herbs, wood, and animal hides to craft basic weapons, tools, and shelters. Resources are limited, and the environment is hostile with dangers such as such as mutated wildlife, and occasional environmental hazards, poisonous plants, toxic fog, make survival difficult. Players must manage their health, hunger, and energy, while avoiding or fighting off corrupted creatures infected by the plague.

Combat is fast-paced but simple, with basic mechanics like slashing with a blade or shooting arrows, combined with elemental abilities drawn from nature, fire, earth, water. Abilities can be unlocked through exploration, defeating mini bosses or discovering ancient altars. The powers are tied to nature’s wrath and can mutate over time, players must balance the use of these powers to avoid accelerating the plague’s spread.

The plague is the central mechanic. It spreads through the world, affecting the land, creatures, and even the player. The longer the player stays in an infected area, the more they are affected slowly mutating, losing health, or becoming more susceptible to attacks. Players can find cleansed safe zones or ancient shrines to purify themselves and temporarily halt the plague’s progression. The player can also find corrupted areas that contain powerful resources but at great risk. These areas are full of dangerous mutated creatures and environmental hazards.

Each run in the game is designed to be short, 10-30 minutes, with the goal of reaching a certain point on the map or completing a specific objective such as finding a cure for the plague, or surviving a boss encounter.

The objective of the game is to survive the plague for as long as possible while gathering resources to prepare for a final challenge a boss encounter with a powerful mutated guardian of the forest. The boss is a representation of the deity's wrath, a final test of the players strength and survival tactics.

While the game doesn't feature a narrative driven plot, players can piece together the story through environmental storytelling. Ruins, hidden artifacts, and notes scattered across the world will reveal hints about the deity, the plague, and the downfall of the human race. Players can choose to focus entirely on survival or uncover the hidden lore at their own pace.

Visual Style: The art style would be stylized low poly to keep development simple while creating a visually interesting world. The contrast between the lush but corrupted forest environments and the bleak, decaying remnants of human civilization would be striking, with vibrant greens, eerie purples, and fiery reds indicating the plague’s corruption.

Audio: Atmospheric music with ambient forest sounds that transition into ominous, eerie tones as the plague spreads. Sound effects for mutated creatures, environmental hazards, and elemental abilities, fire crackling, wind howling, water splashing, would add immersion.

Gameplay Loop:

Players will be essentially dropped into a safe area and may chose to adventure out to gather recourse and complete any objectives they can within an undisclosed time frame, this would be done through the progression and spreading of the plague. There will also be safe zones dotted around in which the player may choose to return to their main camp and keep any recourses they may have gathered during their adventure. This will be similar to games such as Vigor Escape From Tarkov and Hades, I will elaborate on this further down.

As the player moves through different areas, they uncover new resources, face tougher enemies, and deal with the growing influence of the plague. Players can either attempt to cleanse the envronment, find safe zones, or risk the dangers for more valuable resources.

Each run culminates in a final, escalating battle with a mutated guardian, if they choose to continue. Players can prepare by collecting powerful items or elemental abilities throughout their journey. If the player survives the encounter, they can choose to continue exploring or start a new run to unlock additional upgrades.

Why This Works in a Short Time Frame: The use of procedural generation for the world allows for a diverse experience without having to design countless handcrafted locations. Simple combat and crafting mechanics can be iteratively expanded over time. Short, rogue like runs allow for quick development cycles, with players able to pick up and play in a short amount of time. Minimal story elements, relying on environmental storytelling, means the narrative can be conveyed with relatively little development effort.

This approach keeps the core concept intact while making it feasible to create within a shorter time frame, focusing on replayability, gameplay, exploration, and survival.

Now as I mentioned this game has some close similarities to a game Called Hades. Here is a few reason why.

Rogue Like Run Based Design: Like Hades, the game features short, procedurally generated runs where players are dropped into a hostile environment to gather resources, face enemies, and then return to a safe area to prepare for the next run. The runs are typically time-limited, and the objective is to survive long enough to face progressively harder challenges.

Resource Management and Progression: Players gather resources during each run that can be kept or used for upgrading abilities and preparing for tougher encounters. The idea of collecting resources, improving the character, and then facing escalating challenges aligns with the core gameplay loop of Hades, where players improve themselves between runs.

Elemental Abilities and Combat: The combat is fast paced and uses elemental abilities, which is somewha similar to Hades' dynamic combat where players use a variety of weapons and powers granted by different gods. The powers in your game mutate over time, encouraging balance and strategic use, similar to how Hades gives you different power-ups throughout the run that can significantly affect combat.

Environmental Storytelling: The lack of a traditional narrative but with lore revealed through exploration and discovery mirrors Hades' approach, where players uncover details about the world and characters through interactions and environment rather than cutscenes or direct exposition.

Escalating Boss Fights: The final battle against a powerful mutated guardian is similar to Hades’ structured end of run boss fights, where players face off against progressively more difficult enemies, testing their skills and readiness for the next challenge.

If made, all of this is EXTREMELEY subject to change as this is the earliest idea for the game and completely uncertain.

Here is a video that shows some of these gameplay features from Hades so you may have a reference point for some of these features and mechanics that I am talking about:

I also think that hades is a particularly interesting game to look at for my game idea as it is made by an indie studio, Supergiant Games, who's clear focus is to focus on a vivid and dynamic art style as well as heavily narrative driven games that is expressed by putting things into the world and allowing players to discover things of their own will. I will also link below supergiant games' website, specifically a page dedicate to each member of their team expressing why they do what they do which is always, to me at least, the most interesting thing to learn about a person and also the most insightful.

[amydrawsdreams]

"Plotting Perfection"

crafting the compelling Story board for my animation

[grimsourgames]

Sci-Fi Adventure Tables are now live on Itch!

Everything you need to solo your favorite sci-fi TTRPG!

Action/Theme Event Generators

Worldbuilding Simplified

Character Information

Traits

Races, Classes, & Themes

Yes/No Oracles

Things

Twists

Places

Encounters

Settlement Names

Settlement Calamities

And more!

[samsayswhatever]

Random Fanfic Idea Generator

I made this to help give me ideas that I haven't written before, while still using elements I made up and I'm comfortable writing. Feel free to use these, or ask for more

[bettsfic]

Good Morning/Afternoon/evening,

I was wondering if I could pick your brain about bad ideas. I was re-reading your newsletter, it’s very helpful, and was wondering if the shitty draft concept could be applied to ideas. I am currently working on a project and I’m kind of concerned that it might be a very stupid idea. However, I see slivers of potential with this story. Do you think it’s productive to write the idea the way it is and see if it works after writing it if the idea is actually stupid or should I move on to something that I have more faith in idea wise?

i think you should always start with a stupid idea. not just a stupid idea, but the stupidest possible version of a stupid idea. when you have a good idea, you can really psych yourself out. it's a lot of pressure to write a good idea. but a stupid idea has low stakes. if it comes out bad, hey whatever, no loss. but if a stupid idea comes out good, that's a big win.

bad or good, executing a stupid idea will sow the seeds of a great one. every once in a while, somebody will have a good idea and be able to execute it well, but that's rare bordering on miraculous. the rest of us have to fiddle with little images and conflicts that make us go "haha cool" until something interesting arises, and when it does, it's almost impossible to see. and that something will be a miniscule amount of the total you've written, maybe 10% or less, but sometimes you have to write 10x more than what you need to find the story you really meant to tell.

[hurbivore]

Words/ Visuals suggestions

Hello Tumblr people! I'm working on creating a mascot for an academic project. If you could share any ideas/words/objects you associate with art, I would greatly appreciate it. Once I'm finished, I'll share the little guy.

Also, this is my first post, so please let me know if I'm doing this right. Tumblr confuses me.