User blog:Booboofinger/Where to get ideas

"Where can I get ideas?" is probably the most popular question on this wiki, right after "why did my story get deleted?!!?", and for good reason too. It's tough to come up with stuff, especially if you are aiming to do something original instead of just some gorefest with absolutely no plot or another JtK/Rake/Slenderman which will have you asking the second question I mentioned. So in an moment of community service, probably brought on by boredom and a desire to see better stories and less inquiries about deleted pastas, I decided to start this blog post.

I would also like encourage anyone to share their links and methods, as long as they don't involve sacrificing virgins to gods of dark inspiration. After all, virgins are real hard to find these days...

So without further ado, here is where I turn to when I run accross an episode of writers block.

Radio Lab- this is probably my favorite source of inspiration. For those of you you who don't know, Radio Lab is a show that airs on NPR every Saturday. But you can listen to all their podcasts from this link. They have podcasts on a variety of subjects, and a good number of them can get really creepy. They also have a great sense of humor, and the production values are simply fantastic.

Snopes.com- This is the definitive database of urban legends. From Resurection Mary, to the Clown statue story, it's all here.

News of the Wierd s of the Wierd - This is a compilation of some of the wierdest stories you will ever see. True, most of them lean towards the funny side, but some are great examples of extremely dark humor.

Darwin Awards- If dark humor is what you are looking for, go no further. This site, in their own words "recognizes individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by self-selecting themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own stupidity".

Wikipedia - Last but not least is Wikipedia. I usually go there to research a lot of the aspects to the stories I write. But when I am hunting for ideas, i find that the "Did you know" and "On this day" sections can be helpful.

Local Library - Ok, that is not a website, but I love the place. There is something about the ailes and ailes of books, the smell of ink and paper that just gets my creative juices flowing. At the very least, it gets me out of the house.

Ok, so there is my list. If you have any suggestions or want to comment on any of mine, don't be shy! There are a lot of idea starved people out there who need your help. Who knows, maybe one day one of these people might just be you!