I used to get into a wonderful flow of ideas when I got tired. I'd stay up half the night, and sleepiness brought a sort of rambling brilliance which needed only a little trimming when I was more well rested. Now though, when I get sleepy I just get stupid.

Being among other people seems to help. Getting out in the world and seeing people milling around about their own business often gets the wheels of my own imagination turning.

I too would be interested in what others do to spur the creative spark. I'm always looking for ways to jump-start my muse.

>>4359
Now that I think about it, most of the ideas for the things I've been trying to write were thought up when I was around people. That might have something to do with it.

After a long period of not writing, I like to go back to great books that I've read. I break out A Capote Reader (The drop thick dictionary sized hardcover) and skim through some stories.

Music is fine, although it's not necessary to any creative boost. It's just nice to have some atmosphere to relax in.

Note:
I can't listen to rap while writing, though; being a longtime rap listener, and my own background years in slam poetry, I get way too strung on the word flow on the song to concentrate on my own work. I usually find myself writing the lyrics by accident.

It's easy to say this or that helps, but it ultimately comes down to just writing. The work of typing out words, sentences, and ideas just builds on itself until the concepts of something greater emerge.

Even as a practice itself, standardizing the ability to just write has done wonders for me.

Also this: >>4359

A good title.

I usually just write. Anything. That starts me thinking, leads to more ideas, and so on.

>>4367
That reminds me of a method Ray Bradbury talked about. He would write lists of nouns in title form (The [noun]). Whatever things hopped from the ether into his mind, he would write down. Then from those words he began to find patterns, and those gave rise to stories.

Op here, thanks for all the help.

It's really just gonna come down to getting myself to write more, and getting outside and being with people. I've been far too much of a hermit as of late.

>>4367
Pretty much just this, maybe with some fast music in the background.

I let my mind wander and wait for my muse to whisper in my ear. Sometimes I think about problems and ask how they could be solved.

  >>4396

In high school, I wrote a 7-episode series while listening to nothing but this album.

>>4396 >>4443
Music's another favorite source of inspiration for me.

I usually draw my greatest inspiration from pure randomness. Particularly worldcrafting. I like to think of a way to make a world different, expound up it, then think of who would fill that world. Then comes history, etc.

RPing. I do universe crafting by having people play campaigns in my made up worlds and having the speak to random townspeople and stuff.

>>4468
That sounds like an interesting way to get your creativity going, actually.

Hate, there are times when I can focus on something I hate so long that it starts playing itself in my head autonomously and the only thing I can do to make this stop is to think of ways to hurt or make fun of it.

>>4443
Awesome.

I play Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

>>4468
I want to do this now. I miss roleplaying...

>>4521
I didn't get interested in RPing until late in high school, and by that point most of the people who were into it were too busy with work. Now I'm currently stranded in the boondocks, and I can't find anyone within an hour drive who's into this stuff. :\

>>4468
This, thought that's also how I /expend/ my creative juices...

>>4533
When I found out it about traditional means wasn't a joke the only places I could do it in was online…some places were bigger mistakes then others. Where the hell do you find these RP groups that are not incredibly creepy?

>>4544
MMOs mainly.
Feel free to laugh.

>>4545
Some of the best story material I have was harvested from some experiences I had playing Everquest back in the day.

>>4706
You still play any?

>>4718
Nah, I haven't played an MMO in years. Mostly because subscription rates are ridiculous, and because my computer can't handle the graphics on most of them anymore.

I really do miss it though.

There are a very large amount of sources to get creativity from. Usually I get the raw idea for something while watching a movie, reading a book, playing a game, going to a museum, anything really.

But I mainly process these thoughts when I walk around the neighborhood, climbing the crags, walking through the forests, and so on. Usually I choose a certain genre of music to listen to while processing the ideas, and the type of music and song that is playing at the moment often helps define the particular part of the idea of a story I am processing, and even affects it. If a touching overture approaches in the music, I start to get ideas of such things, but if a sad part is playing, I usually focus on sad parts of the story. Then as I walk and get ideas, I usually write them down to my cell-phone in a basic form, so I don't need to focus on remembering them and can think other stuff, and when I get back from my 1-2 hour walk, I'll write the stuff down on my computer, which I will later on process even more-so as I begin the task of writing the story, usually by making a rough draft of the stuff and organizing my ideas, and then writing as is appropiate.

>>4725
Yeah, I haven't found any that are worth playing...so, back to the question of "Where do we find RP groups?"

>>4739
Your friends is the easiest and most obvious choice, even if they're not the role-playing type. They can learn so long as they aren't obstinate.

There's sometimes adds for groups in your local gaming shops(if any), and if you live in a smallish country, you might find a group by searching some local message board that's LARP or table-top rpg or even boardgame related. Sometimes they're looking for players.(you might even make your own thread where you say you're looking for some). Then there might be a role-playing related Con somewhere, where you might find people to play with, in the very least during the con, if not after it.

>>4748
Well, I'm not so much looking for tabeltop RP as Chatroom or Vidya Gaem based RPing.

>>4751
Well, that's super-easy. You can find that stuff literally anywhere. Just find some forum that deals with such stuff and there you are.

A tagline. If I can randomly write a short summary that sounds really awesome, it encourages and inspires me to build on the story until it's finished. I've gotten 30,000 words from a 150 word summary. Of course, by the time I feel it's "done", the original summary doesn't usually work anymore. But it's an excellent kick-start.

I also like to listen to songs people have recommended for me specifically, and write down the first words that come to my mind the first time I listen to them. Not even sentences, just words. I've created a lot of great prose from that.

Also, getting really horny helps for some reason. And it rarely comes out as smut, so I dunno.

The problem I experienced with deriving inspiration and creativity from roleplaying games is that it gives you the same sort of experience writing for a franchise/paradigm that any other sort of fanfiction gives you. It's practice and motions, but it's still another mold to press against the walls of and still dependent on a pachydermal layer of creative dogma for structure.