What Inspires Your Fanfics?

Fyn16 · **on:** August 10, 2012, 12:31:54 PM

I'm always interested in what inspires people's writing. I personally write based on life experiences (which are obviously dramatized). I just set up this topic to ask a simple question: fanfiction authors, what inspires your writing?

Chomper98 · **Reply #1 on:** August 10, 2012, 02:30:14 PM

What inspired my most recent fanfic, a war fanfic, was partly inspired by Darkhououmon's Out of the Shadows, also, it was inspired partly by World War I and II, mostly of revenge. I even used blitzkrieg in it.

Another was inspired by the Rebellion in Star Wars, and several smaller battles by Harry Potter, so yeah, it has a lot of inspiration, and a lot of new stuff. I've been writing fanfics for years, the first ones I usually never finished, then the ones I did were poorly written, short, and full of mistakes, but I've been getting better, until my current fanfic. So I do have a lot of inspirations, some from real life, some from other fanfics, and some just cause I like to read. How's that? Anyone who's interested in reading it can look here :

Fyn16 · **Reply #2 on:** August 10, 2012, 03:12:14 PM

Very cool! Media's definitely a huge inspiration for fanfics. I kind of forgot about that...

DarkHououmon · **Reply #3 on:** August 10, 2012, 03:17:08 PM

What inspired Out Of The Shadows, which I'm pretty sure I mentioned before on this board, is a simple conversation between me and my brother. It went something like this:

Brother: You know I never understood the whole Chomper thing.
Me: Yeah. Littlefoot's mother was killed by one. I'm surprised Littlefoot was so quick to forgive, although Chomper was not the one who killed his mom.
Brother: That reminds me. You remember how in the fifth movie, Littlefoot is all 'Oh Chomper will never betray us!' and such?
Me: Yes? I remember that.
Brother: Well picture them doing a movie where Chomper is an adult, and they're all 'We're still friends right?' and Chomper is just glowering at them, licking his lips.
Me: Hahaha yes! I doubt they'd make something like that, though. Too dark and violent for the kids.
Brother: Yeah, a shame.

Not nearly 100% accurate, but the same principle is there: joking about what Chomper would be like as an adult.

And thus was the inspiration for Out Of The Shadows, which I began writing that night or the next day or so. I forget exactly when.

That reminds me. I wonder if my fanfic the first LBT fanfics to feature an evil Chomper. I don't recall there being another one before mine, but I could just be remembering wrong.

EggStealerGirl · **Reply #4 on:** August 10, 2012, 05:22:26 PM

I'm honestly not sure what inspires my fanfics, really...

I mean, sometimes it can just come from my own personal experiences, but then other times it just comes from the basic characters/storylines, depending on what fandom I'm looking at.

But sadly, I have not written a decent fanfic in a long while...

I probably should sometime.

Fyn16 · **Reply #5 on:** August 10, 2012, 05:26:47 PM

Definitely go for it, if you can find the time! Writing's an awesome stress reliever, I've found out, and at this point in my life, I could really use some relief. Therefore, I write. I think you should definitely take another shot at writing.

The Chronicler · **Reply #6 on:** August 10, 2012, 09:00:17 PM

Most of my fanfiction ideas are pretty much the product of my frequent daydreams. Unfortunately, by usually not writing at all about these ideas, I slowly start to forget about them over time. I'd love to share them with anyone who is willing to write them out with me. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in seeing most of my ideas written out, which is why I've recently been embracing the concept of being a co-author. I'm currently finishing up a trilogy of fanfics with karkovice, and GoF member Pterano has been interested in working with me on another idea, so I know this has been working out rather good so far.

I guess most of my ideas start out with me thinking something like: "What if this happened? How would the characters react? What would be the end result?" I typically can't remember where I come up with ideas, but I tend to stick to one in particular that I like for a few weeks, mentally fleshing out all of the details (like dialogue) I can think of, and leaving the rest for a potential co-author.

My only solo project has been my series of LBT/Bionicle fanfics. I've been a fan of Bionicle since early in the storyline, years before I found GoF, so it was inevitable that some of my ideas would be of a potential crossover of the two. When I joined GoF at the end of 2007, I knew I wanted to make myself known here by writing my own fanfiction, but I didn't want to use an idea that someone else may have already come up with. I decided to go with the LBT/Bionicle ideas because I was pretty sure there weren't a lot of people who were fans of both, let alone be willing to consider writing such a fanfic. I thought about all of the potential ideas I had, picked the one that I thought seemed the best, then began the actual writing.

As I progressed, I've also thought about potential sequels, and after a few years I'm currently rooted in a plan to have a total of six stories in this series of mine. I'd love to have it all finished some day, but it's lately been taking so long that I fear I will never get a chance to write out any of my other ideas. This is why I've declared that my series of LBT/Bionicle fanfics will be my only solo project. By embracing my co-author concept, I only need to explain my ideas in full detail to one person instead of writing out a complete story.

Serris · **Reply #7 on:** August 10, 2012, 11:54:23 PM

Twilight Valley was inspired by another LBT war story. Ideas for it come from everywhere.

My latest project (a MLP:FiM war story) The Conversion Bureau: A Dark In the Light was inspired by numerous war stories, deconstructions and outright stomp fics of this especially hated fan fiction 'verse.

Fyn16 · **Reply #8 on:** August 11, 2012, 12:18:27 AM

My latest story, Let Your Heart Guide You, (at least the section I just finished) was based on Basic Cadet Training. BCT will undoubtedly also influence later sections. I've also taken inspiration from past challenges in my life, like Civil Air Patrol's Combat Control Orientation Course.

Among Friends, or at least the scenery in it, was inspired by my family's move up to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. For the short time I was there, the BRs convinced me that that particular range is one of the most beautiful places in America. So I based the Highmountains (a location in the story) on them, and threw in a darker twist. Fun stuff!

Mirumoto_Kenjiro · **Reply #9 on:** August 11, 2012, 01:36:02 AM

Like Chronicler, most of my fanfic ideas are daydream related, especially of my favorite animated shows.

My Untold Stories war series are based off of various parts of history, sometimes parts that are seldom talked about or 'in the grey' on facts. For examples, "Operation: Piranha Pack" is inspired by a mixture of the Atlantic U-boat fighting of the war and the piece of Nazi Germany territory in Antarctica, "War of the Aurora" combines America's first jet fighters and the conspiracy of Nazi UFOs, and "Lady Hornets" revolved around the WASPs but added the element of an all-female fighter escort group during the war.

EggStealerGirl · **Reply #10 on:** August 11, 2012, 03:28:06 AM

Quote from: Fyn16,Aug 10 2012 on 04:26 PM

Definitely go for it, if you can find the time! Writing's an awesome stress reliever, I've found out, and at this point in my life, I could really use some relief. Therefore, I write. I think you should definitely take another shot at writing.

Yeah, I probably just might.

I've actually had an LBT fanfic idea for awhile now, and I really think it has a lot of potential.

Basically, the plot is about Ozzy having to take care of a baby longneck that assumes he's his mother!

I had already written chapter one of it a long ways back, and have just felt too unmotivated to continue working on it...

Strut's going to be in it too, of course! ^^

vonboy · **Reply #11 on:** August 11, 2012, 03:53:48 AM

Well, Past-O-Rama was inspired from Futurama, another series that I love.
I try to write that series in the kind of style as Futurama, so it has a lot of humor in it. The Professor in my fiction was originally gonna be the Professor from Futurama, but now it's just a kinda similar character that's not QUITE as senile and crazy.

A Long-Lost Friend wasn't really inspired by anything I can think of. Just me thinking a lot on how Chomper's life is going to be in the future. About a year ago, I went back and forth with Pterano a bit, coming up with the movie script idea. He showed me how a script was actually supposed to look like, so it's written differently than my tv series fanfic.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #12 on:** August 11, 2012, 01:15:33 PM

Mine are inspired by weird stuff. Usually other fanfics, plus games I'm playing. My latest one is part Fallout: Equestria, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

Fyn16 · **Reply #13 on:** August 11, 2012, 01:18:39 PM

"Starfall Raptor?!" That's a pretty cool name (sorry to get off-topic briefly). I couldn't help but do a double take when I saw that, because the first part of my fanfic revolves around an old Fin-Neck tradition called "Starfall." Too cool...

FlipperBoidSkua · **Reply #14 on:** August 11, 2012, 09:17:05 PM

Like a few others before me, I mostly get my stories from my constant daydreams. Sometimes, I also get story ideas (or specific scenes from said stories) from songs that I listen to. For example, whilst my Guilty Until Proven Innocent (where a trio of carnivorous Domeheads arrive in the Valley and uses Chomper as a scapegoat to cover their predatory habits) was still in the concept stage, I was listening to Adagio for Strings (a beautiful and sad-sounding instrumental; I highly recommend it!). Suddenly, feeling the depressing mood, a daydream came up of Chomper being held captive by the Domehead antagonists, and being forced to maim a dead hatchling so the villains can frame him for their crimes. It ended up making such an impact on me that I wrote the scene ahead of time (before that story really came to be) and incorporated it fully into the plot.

My stories can also be inspired by my own personal experiences.

One Time Thing (my very first LBT fanfic where Thud's tail is in thorough agony and he goes to Chomper for help) was inspired when I suddenly found myself with a very painful abscess (that still returns on occasion). I felt the need to transfer my pain into a story and at the time, I was obsessed with Thud. So I gave my pain to him, using the pinned-tail accident from the TV episode Escape from the Mysterious Beyond for the pain's origin. I also couldn't resist elaborating on Thud's respect (friendship?) with Chomper!

My newest story, Survival of the Viscious (regarding the telling of Sierra's life) will contain elements from my own personal experiences as well.

And lastly, some stories (both original and fanfics) are very much inspired by a massive RP I'm taking part in with my friend. Two of my LBT fanfics fall into this category: Self-Control (where Ozzy becomes a dad and his egg-addiction gets in the way, with disasterous results), and A Loner's Care (where a Therizinosaurus journeys to take a Styracosaurus child back to her herd). At the very root, though, A Loner's Care was inspired by Isis Masshiro's LBT fanart of the Therizinosaurus character, which I played in the RP I mentioned, and from that sprouted the fanfic. Don't worry, I have permission.

Chomper98 · **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2012, 03:11:42 AM

Another new fanfic of mine, Land Before Time: Tyranna, was inspired by Fyn16 in Collaborative project?.

I made a character who is similar to Chomper, being a sharptooth that was, however, raised her whole life by life-eaters, and who Chomper develops a crush on later on.

(She is a different character then the character of the same name in my other fanfiction.)

Littlefoot1616 · **Reply #16 on:** August 28, 2012, 07:25:45 AM

If anyone has read either of my fanfics, they'll know just how obsurdly crammed with various inflections of different movies, games, books and music references they are. Arguably some work better than others but there are loads of hints from different games from retro to modern, movies of varying genres and even some music I like. Characters, particularly human ones, are either a mish-mash of other characters that are out there in the world of media or they are based on people, friends and family that I actually know. For example, the main human protagonist in my current story is actually loosely based on my two eldest nephews even down to the name. As I've always been told when trying to come up with content for a story, "use what you know best!" That way, inspiration will come a lot more freely coz you don't have to struggle to come up with something off the top of your head. The fun comes from what you can construct from those initial threads of inspiration.

Drake · **Reply #17 on:** September 18, 2012, 09:21:13 PM

Well, i absolutely love destroying a character's concept of humanity and turning them physically into monsters (and then playing with the concept of monsters in the first place) so a lot of my stuff involves transformation.

My more recent ideas have come from a desire to put characters into situations that force them to change. I like exploring the development potiential of characters and taking them in directions the canon never would.

I also draw a lot of inspiration from other shows, movies, and books since I lack a lot of experience with real life. "Write who you know" usually only applies to myself since I don't really feel that I "know" anybody else and I don't want to insult anyone by making an accurate character copy of them. The last OC I created is based on myself just heavily exaggerated.

Ghostfishe · **Reply #18 on:** September 19, 2012, 01:08:39 PM

Often the LEGO Star Wars games; the ability to mix and match characters in different levels leads to all kinds of potential plots. Like this one time when I accidentally picked Darth Sidious for the level where you're trying to smuggle the Death Star plans off of the Tantive IV. Sometimes it's impossible to justify how stuff like that could happen, but other times you end up with some really interesting ideas.

Occasionally I am inspired by other fanfics, but I try not to be, if that makes any sense. I actually made a fic based on someone else's idea by accident... I hadn't read their story in years, forgot all about it, and so it seemed like I was just coming up with this idea off the top of my head. So I incorporated it into the plot for my fic thinking all was well and good. I only realized it wasn't mine when I rediscovered their fic, and had to try to find a tactful way to ask the author for permission to write the story even though I was already working on it. Yeesh.

I also have a ton of stories I've never written down. A couple are based on other peoples' fanfics, since I obviously can't publish those anyways. I had a very long and involved story arc about a crossover in which a character goes crazy, manages to wipe out all of Cybertron by invoking Yog-Sothoth, hunts the few surviving Transformers across the Star Wars galaxy, and ends up championing equal rights for Chao under the guise of a Batman-like figure. This includes raising a Dark Chaos Chao who eventually develops amnesia, forgets he's a Chao, and is adopted by the Mandalorians, but then... okay, you know, I think it's obvious why I wouldn't publish that one.