What movies, books or people (other than Star Wars) inspire you to write?

Last night I was watching Jerry Maguire and a fic literally came to me.

So, what movies have you seen, or books you've read that have brought a plot bunny to your doorstep?

 

Just about anything can inspire me. I think the most inspirational stuff came from a recent rereading of Schindler's List.

 

Almost anything by Terry Brooks works for me. He's pretty damn good.

 

Katherine Kurtz' Deryni series. They're so complex and richly detailed, with amazingly real characters. And I'm fascinated by the Deryni, who remind a bit of the Jedi.

 

Oooh, boy. There are so many. Even discounting indirect inspiration, parody, real-life people appearing independently of some program, and throwaway references from long-form fics -- mainly because I don't feel like hunting them all down -- there are 117 media properties for which I've written fanfic as of Sunday. You don't really want me to list them all, do you?

Things from a source property that have inspired individual fics have included scenes, lines, characters, actors, sets, bloopers, typos, outside interviews, and probably other things that aren't coming to mind right now.

 

LotR inspired me to right a fantasy story. if anyone wants to see it than pm me. i have 2 chapters done.

 

Don't ask me how (because I don't know), but it was the movie October Sky and the book Band of Brothers by Steven Ambrose that got me back into writing.

 

In all honesty, pretty much anything can and will inspire me, including letting my hand hang out the window of the car... but to list a few:

The 13th Warrior (movie)
A Gathering Evil (Stackpole)
Honor of the Queen (Weber)
The Hunt for Red October (movie)
The Warrior's Apprentice (Bujold)
Curse of Chalion (Bujold)
The White Gryphon (Lackey)
Soldier (movie)
The Daybreakers (L'Amour)
Mad Amos (Foster)



I could go on and on, but I won't.

 

Mystery and Spy novels. My problem is I get all these great ideas, but never enough time to plan them out and work on them. Of course there's also the problem I have of not being able to finish my stories.

 

Well, historical movies do a lot for inspiration. Something about ideals of a long ago time or place just seems to find its way into plot bunnies after seeing a movie like that. It is sometimes strange things in movies that inspire me, like that rattle of armor and the clang of swords in a battleline, or a line of dialogue, even something a character is wearing.

Historical novels, nonfiction and books on symbolism fill out a lot of my reading. Some bit about a historical figure may inspire a hero or make for a great villian.

 

I don't know if this counts but there are some moives on the Lifetime movie channel that helps to come up with some plot bunnies. Such as there was one that dealt with the issue of someone being stalked and trying to figure out who the person was etc. They have some good moives that deal with life issues. I watched one last night called Jane's House with Anne Archer and James Woods. It was pretty good. Dealt with the issue of a woman marrying a widower and moving into a house that still had everything of the former's wifes in place as if she was still living there even after a couple of years had gone by and how the new wife felt etc and the kids.


As far as big movies things like mysteries, historical, romance for the most part and books along the same.

It would be great if someone could come up with a way of doing a series of stories based on the Ops Center series or Net-Force. Something like a special elite force of jedi.

 

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. A novel set towards the end of the western frontier, and clocking in at about 900 pages at that. It has, by far, been the greatest influence on my writing. McMurtry has such a knack for writing dialogue to fit characters and for creating memorable casts, where even one-line characters stand out.

Seriously, I almost never paid attention to how dialogue sounded before I read it. Afterwards, I began to notice how one could tell who was speaking without being told.

 

Star Trek, incontestably, the number one inspirer, my blood careening within my every inch of vein and capillary...

Cats, the musical...I adore Cats....

My Little Pony (the toy line)....every one of them has their own distinct personality and it shows, to create a new character from that world or not comes so easy...their world has so much purity and fantasy, that helps so much...

Care Bears...same as MLP

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Pocahontas (the song COTW)

Anything fantasy....every fantasy movie, every medieval times movie, every movie with dragons and princesses and elves and gelflings and fairies and mermaids.....

Mermaids....anything with mermaids, especially Splash.

Anything by William Shatner or Jean M Auel or Bertrice Small.

 

I have three main sources of inspiration. I get a lot out of fantasy books, particulary the Rhapsody Series by Elizabeth Haydon, and the Crown of Stars books by Kate Elliot.

I also get a lot of ideas from music, particularly Broadway musicals. I will be listeneing to a song, and start forming an idea for a fic around the idea/story depicted in it.

But my strangest (and biggest) inspiration is from the show Survivor! Watching them do challenges is a great way to get ideas for obsticals for characters to have to do, and its a good way to see how different personalities clash or click. Also a good inspiration for fights scenes!

 

Dare I ask how CATS inspires you?

 

Pretty much anything can get me going

~LtJS

 

Cats inspires me....I've always loved cats. Cats has so many different kinds of Cats, with so many personalities and backgrounds, when I saw them, I was so filled with tingling excitement. Stories galore come to mind all the while about Cats and crossovers....Cats fans always write about the Cats, they even make their own OCs....they pretend to be Cats sometimes when online, they make up their own personalities as screennames, they make their own websites (Sunsheria's Centre of Operation : http://www.geocities.com/Sunsheria_loves_mungojerrie

Dontara's Jellice Den: http://www.geocities.com/zekecushman/

Obsidia's Jellicle Jubilee:
http://www.cheezrulez.com/CATS/CATS.shtml )

Bunnies come up constantly...for Cats and any crossovers, its like Star Trek....so amazing what you can cross-breed Cats with....

 

I inspire myself. Can't say that I really can pinpoint any particulars, but I'm sure in some subconcious level, all the media that I have taken in has some how shaped the way I write and stories I tell, and even possibly the perspectives I hold. I do try very hard to make anything I come up with not resemble in any way something I've heard, seen or read though. But that is a challenge. Star Wars is really what inspires me though, esp some of the video games i.e. KOTOR and Bounty Hunter. Just the epic Jedi tale part and brutal action of being a bounty hunter though.

I did have a period where I was reading all the Bradbury stuff, and I must say that his writing style had an obvious affect on my own. That was hard to break myself of, but I did keep a little bit of it.

This is an interesting topic though, one I may delve a little deeper into.

 

All my fics have an aspect of John LeCarre I know that sounds wierd but I was just so fascinated by The Spy That Came in From the Cold and the character of George Smiley. The fact that you can pretend to be something and then come close to becoming that which you pretend, has always fascinated me. Anyway, I really need to get off that theme in my stories. It always seems to sneak into my subconscious!

 

A lot of movies or books can inspire me, but often one good line can especially be inspirational.

 

If I'm stuck and I need that little push, I pull out something by Spider Robinson. Not because he gives me ideas, but because the way he strings together words is so incredible, it makes me want to write. Not many authors can do that for me.

Shaindl

 

The LOTR movies and anything written by Sara Douglass.

Lusa: Elizabeth Hayden's books are sooooooo good!!

 

Umm, well stuff by Tamora Pierce definitely inspires me, she writes some kick-arse heroines (sp?) and then David Eddings is also an inspiration, I jsut love his stuff.

But really, a lot of the times it's music that inspires me and gives me evil plot bunnies.

THen again, I get plot bunnies in movie theatres and run around maddly trying to find a pen and something to write on...

:Targeter:

 

I just finished reading Nothing Is Impossible by Christopher Reeve. That, along with his very recent death inspired a fic.


Edit: Recently I've been reading a lot of Jules Verne and that's given me a lot of ideas.

 

I feel really out of it as I make up my own plots and don't try to borrow anyone elses.

There are a few influences like Harry Potter as well as mythology and things I hear from time to time.

I have to confess though, once of the scenes in EOE was out of the Matrix. It was a Freudan slip though.