What unlikely inspiration led to some of your stories?

As an author, there are a tonne of sources that fuel story ideas; most of them obvious. Sometimes it's a photo or video that demands I tell the story around it. Other times, a what-if scenario might pop in my head and I'll go with it.

But occasionally, completely unrelated or external factors drive me to a story. For example, my latest piece, Nightingale, was entirely spawned from watching a porn clip. But not the clip itself. Before it started, the bold advert claimed: "This AI slut will make you cum in 45 seconds" and my immediate thought was, "That sounds boring. No build-up, no excitement."

My second thought was: "But what if that's all there was? Everyone addicted to instant orgasms, finished in under a minute."

And so, the story grew from that one moment.

I'm curious: what random sparks from unexpected places have you had that led to a story?

Jeez, where to begin. I will keep it basic and probably come back later in this thread.

Christina Hendricks character in 'Drive' inspired my writing of She Work Hard For The Money.

Fucked In The Head came about from looking at porno a night and there was this 2000s gonzo porn posted entitled the same thing. Then the pic, I had saved on my phone for months. That's when that story came together for that comp, because I was stuck on what to write.

Discovering Plutonium By Accident was more from a throwaway line from Costanza in a Seinfeld episode in terms of a title. The content itself wasn't inspired.

Alright, done for now.

Thanks, Carlton, yeah add as many as you recall, whenever. Seinfeld is quite a crazy source of inspiration for a title of an erotica story. Love it.

Two of my stories were drawn from real historical figures I'd read about: "Elagabalus" and "Takabuti" A couple more came from stories I'd read in the newspaper: "An afternoon in the hospice" was one. And there have been several inspired by real life conversations I was either part of or overheard.

I was on a first date walking around the city when I noticed a five-digit license plate that made a good cribbage hand. I said something like, "I never actually play cribbage, but I can't stop myself from figuring out the score on a license plate." My date said, "Oh, you don't like being pegged?" and I thought, "New story idea!"

Pegging Cards became the first installment of my short series You Bet Your Ass! and I discovered a new genre where I became very popular for a while. (I have at times been a big fish in a small pond with the Historical, Watersports, and now Strap-On Sex categories.)

I see inspiration everywhere. Never suffered from lack of that. My problem now is being able to focus long enough to get it on paper.

I’ve always been a lucid dreamer, too. Had a big imagination. Art inspires stories. People watching. Music. Nature.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I see inspiration everywhere. Never suffered from lack of that. My problem now is being able to focus long enough to get it on paper.

I’ve always been a lucid dreamer, too. Had a big imagination. Art inspires stories. People watching. Music. Nature.

This part I feel so much. Inspiration is everywhere but being able to sit and write about the sex, what causes the sex, and the sexers sometimes feels like too much.

Amy's Mom, which has become my best-received story, was inspired by "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. Other than that, most of my stories have been inspired by events or people in my past life, and by sexual encounters that didn't happen. In particular, as someone who enjoys hiking, biking and skiing, I've drawn inspiration from those activities for many of my stories, including the new Sexsquatch and Persistent Terror.

Now that I've covered a ton of my longstanding fantasies, though, I feel like I've been branching out this year and finally drawing my inspiration more broadly and less from my past, including characters not based quite so directly on individuals I've known. Steam Mates was inspired by a trip to Portland and by the music, movies and events of 1972. Heartbombing the Heartland was inspired by numerous car and train trips across the Great Plains over the years but is firmly set in the present. Fair Fare Trade was inspired by an olfactorily overwhelming visit to a county fair not too long ago. Stan Bi Me was inspired by some of my favorite rock bands of the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, especially the criminally underappreciated L7 (still touring!). The cover band Ronnie Rockett and the Black Tarts in that story, by the way, was inspired not only by Joan Jett, but also by (again, criminally underappreciated) Living Colour.

Sneak preview: I've been reading not only a fair bit of science fiction, but also I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson, a guidebook of sorts for navigating the looming threats of societal collapse and human extinction. Both have provided a ton of inspiration for Wife Hacking, my upcoming competition entry.

Maybe I am just lucky; I just don't know, but I see inspiration everywhere. It is the one element in writing that comes easily to me. It is everything else that I struggle with to various degrees. 😳

For example, my Cash in Hand series, which now runs something close to 50 stories, was originally inspired by the need to write a Uniform genre story towards gaining my omnium badge. So, I just thought, how about two older wealthy gentlemen hiring a younger woman to clean their rather large property? From there, I spent some time developing the characters, found an appropriate provocative photo (see below) and wrote the story.

When I did this, I was already thinking about the next omnium genre, Occupations, for a follow-up story. The first story was well-received, so I wrote that follow-up, and a year and a half later I'm still writing about those characters that I created just to get another notch towards my omnium badge. Cash In Hand 1 - "A Job Opening?" - Part 1 Of 2

So, for me at this moment, it's the characters that I have created that drive the ideas behind the stories.

I agree, the drive towards Omnium has led me to branch out in my thinking more than expected, too.

Quote by joe71

I agree, the drive towards Omnium has led me to branch out in my thinking more than expected, too.

I know that it has been mentioned several times before, and I don't want to go off-topic, but it would be fantastic if LushStories introduced a "Double Omnium Badge" to encourage established authors to write stories in the not so popular genres. 😎

Quote by wxt55uk

... write stories in the not so popular genres.

I'm a reverse omnium type; as implied above, out of ~80 stories I have 24 Historical, 16 Micro, 12 Watersports, and 4 Strap-On. That's nearly 70%. 😃

To get back on topic, my new big idea is a spoof of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, riffing on the genre without being fanfic. I'm going to flood the Humor category next!

Quote by Chet_Morton

I'm a reverse omnium type; as implied above, out of ~80 stories I have 24 Historical, 16 Micro, 12 Watersports, and 4 Strap-On. That's nearly 70%. 😃

To get back on topic, my new big idea is a spoof of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, riffing on the genre without being fanfic. I'm going to flood the Humor category next!

I LOVE Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys! Read the books. Watched the shows.