This week: Two Sources of Inspiration Edited by: Jeff-o'-lantern 🎃  
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You never know what you can do until you try,
and very few try unless they have to."
— C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff-o'-lantern 🎃 and I'm one of the regular editors of the official Noticing Newbies Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site in that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me directly or submit feedback in the comment box at the bottom of this newsletter. |
Two Sources of Inspiration
Writers, especially when they're successful, are often asked how they come up with their story ideas. People are fascinated by the creative process and want to know how particularly unique stories come to exist. This is especially true of writers who tackle genres that are further from the reality that we're all familiar with, like science fiction, fantasy, and horror, where there's a significant amount of imagination and creativity that goes into coming up with concepts that extend far beyond the day-to-day events in our own lives. When it comes to concepts, there are — for me — really one of two ways you can go about it. You can:
Draw from sources that people already respond to
or
Twist something familiar in a new way
Drawing upon things people already respond to is a surefire way of developing a story that will engage a reader. If you're writing a horror story about spiders, snakes, heights, clowns, confined spaces, needles, germs, death, pain, being buried alive, or having a loved one abducted instantly triggers our horror reflex, because they're things and situations which already terrify many of us. If you can find something people are afraid of, chances are writing about it will in and of itself go a long way toward creating that atmosphere of terror that you're looking for in a horror story. It's straightforward, and it works. That's why many staples of the horror genre never go out of style.
Twisting something familiar in a new way, of course, is an alternative to the tried and true stories. In this case, the challenge for a horror writer is to find something that we don't associate with horror and then make that thing horrifying for the audience. Edgar Allan Poe was able to create a sense of dread around a raven. Dean Koontz gave us reason to fear carnivals, heart transplants, and weekend getaways to Napa wine country. Stephen King made us afraid of cars, cell phones, and even those little toy plastic green army men.
Most genres have a number of tropes associated with them. Romance stories have happily ever after endings, and best friend characters. Westerns have frontier towns, sheriffs, and the unlimited possibility of the untamed West. Alternate histories have the promise of a familiar event in world history and an exploration of what would have happened if that event turned out differently. No matter what genre you write in, chances are you can explore both of these approaches at the conceptual stage.
Each approach has its benefits and drawbacks. With something that's already established in the reader's mind, there isn't a lot of setup that's required to get them into the appropriate mood for your story. Twisting something familiar, by contrast, requires a setup that could require an investment of time and words to make sure it's properly established. While this isn't such a major concern when writing a novel, it can be problematic for short stories (especially contest entries) where a word count is a legitimate concern and every word that's used to establish and explain the premise is potentially a word that isn't being used for characterization or narrative progression.
On the other hand, while memorable stories can be written using either technique, twisting something familiar is usually the one that's employed when readers say, "I'll never be able to look at that the same way again." The danger of doing something familiar is that the reader has seen it or read it before in any of the dozens of other books, movies, and other media that exploit the trope.
Ultimately, the method used to come up with a story is up to you. But before you write a story, it may be worth your time to give it some thought, especially if you're writing for a contest or for publication where you really need to stand out from all the other submissions. Ask yourself if you would be better served by providing your audience with tropes they already expect, or whether you should surprise them with something they've never seen before.
Until next time,
Jeff-o'-lantern 🎃
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
You are also invited to check out these items from members of the community:
| |  | The Last Spin (E)
Please read it. And do drop an honest review or two. Thanks in advance!
#2345397 by Ra M  |
| | | edges (13+)
A poem about the reality of living with BPD (borderline personality disorder)
#2345368 by Sami |
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Noticing Newbies: August 20, 2025 Issue [#13304]
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