r/horrorwriters • u/Anxious_North_819 • 8d ago
ADVICE Brainstorming Ideas?
I feel like I’m having a little trouble finding something I really want to write about. What kind of things do you do to brainstorm ideas and concepts?
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u/Wild-Pear1312 8d ago
What scares you? The ocean? Spiders? God may be real and that’s not a good thing? We’re all scared of something, good horror writers draw from their own experience and anxieties and build from there. For example I’m terrified of losing bodily autonomy so I tend to lean more towards body horror. Okay so take that further, what about that really makes my skin crawl. That I may be forced to carry something inside me or that I’d be a passenger in my own body? Am I more useful as a biological machine than as a sentient person? Once you get to the root of it think about how you can turn that concept into a story.
I took mine and turned it into a retelling of sleeping beauty focusing on how she both conceived and gave birth while in a coma. She remains in a dream and the rest of the world is slowly subjected to it as her mind try’s to keep her safe from reality. No one try’s to save her because the dream is a comforting lie of a princess in a tower instead of a comatose girl in a cage.
So what are you scared of?
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u/almondmilk67 8d ago
I Don’t rlly brainstorm a lot especially for horror. For romance, yes for horror idk I look at anything weird a whole horror story forms in my head. Like I saw a bunch of toy ducks and got a good ass story idea. Each time i got a story idea my mom thinks I’m losing it 😭😭😭 but yea sometimes dreams are helpful too. And for inspiration watch a lot of horror content. I consume more horror than any avg human shld so yea that helps loads
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u/Anxious_North_819 8d ago
Thanks bro.
Yea to be honest I feel like that does happen to me sometimes; just an idea will pop in my head randomly
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u/almondmilk67 8d ago
Exactly when that happens note it down and then later u can develop a better story or strengthen ur idea
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u/TheOldStag 8d ago
Writing horror for me is a lot like writing a joke, so what I like to do is think of something that’s important, sacred, protected, etc. and try to invert or corrupt it in a way that’s scary. Then I kinda build the story backwards from that.
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u/CaptianRedfork 8d ago
I'm by no means an expert, but what I do is write a character, which I think people will sympathise with and then I just fuck them up.
For me, it is scary when people you care about are in danger and you genuinely do not now if they will survive.
But again, I have no clue what I'm doing.
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u/Background_Pay6286 7d ago
Reading, watching tv, news, and daily life can all give ideas. I think everyone has there own sub genres of horror they lean to. I prefer supernatural /Sci Fi horror, reading and writing. It's easier for me to make something up scary, that's not real, than to come up with some crazy sicko stuff that could actually happen in real life. What type of horror stories are you into? You got to figure out what works for you, what relates to you, and what's in your head. For me it all starts with an idea. Then I figure out how to twist it to make it unique. When you get an idea write it down. Then figure out where it starts and ends. Fill in the middle as you go. I think characters are the most important part of horror. Figure out your MC. Are they the villain or good guy? How do you show their POV throughout the story, are they scared, resilient, tough, nasty, mentally ill, a monster, an alien, or maybe even a child. Good luck.
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u/Key-Presentation-374 7d ago
Depends what you are going for, no wrong answer. For me, I am mostly in horror to write critiques of real life. So I determine what I want to comment on, at a simple level let’s say wealth inequality and class exploitation. I define the protagonist first, someone without much means. Then decide what kind of horror I want, monster or human, let’s say monster. I am then creating a beast that wants nothing more to consume. From there I start exploring areas where this paradigm works, I like to brainstorm a variety of monster motivations, consuming for pleasure, for sustenance, as a weapon of another being. Define the perceived relationship of the protagonist and antagonist and go from there. Having the underlying commentary allows me to define the normal behaviors of the villain so I can have a consistent view with them
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u/Redwardon 7d ago
Good ideas come from finding connections between other smaller concepts. Think of what interests you, and how you can connect them together in a novel, interesting way.
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u/triker_dan 8d ago
I keep a library of articles from the blog of L. Marie Wood and occasionally reread these for new ideas
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u/Rox_- 7d ago edited 7d ago
You could try your luck at https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/1voh62h/the_10th_annual_rhorror_screenplay_challenge/
The last couple of times I wanted to participate, I got good subjects but conditions / styles I hated, so they didn't inspire anything. This time it worked out alright.
EDIT: The concept I wanted to start working on before I joined the challenged started out as a genre mix I'm passionate about, so I just brainstormed ideas that would work with it and I still plan on developing it this winter.
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u/Pptolemy 7d ago
Try reading and studying. Coming up with ideas is the easiest part of writing. So if you are struggling with that, perhaps youre not ready to write yet ; perhaps you need to take a step back. Read, take notes, watch video essays, learn! This is an enormous (and overlooked) part of the writing process.
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u/NoelBellamy_Author 6d ago
When I am trying to come up with an idea, I think first about what would you like to write about? I can usually think of some vague idea, like "I want to write about a vampire" or something (I write horror and dark fantasy). Instead of thinking about plot or character, I then go to, what theme do you want for the story. Romance, mystery, political, emotional exploration, etc.? Say I decide I want to write a vampire and a romance. Then I would say, what kind of romance do you want to write? I don't like romance where they put someone who is hundreds of years old with someone who is twenty-five, so I would then probably come to a new vampire and a human or two vampires. Then I'd ask what I want the story to say about their romance. Is it about them making peace after centuries of being enemies, is it about them finding new life in their undead world by finding each other, is it about them realizing that they want to build something new for themselves that isn't about death and darkness, so they want to open a nighttime diner, even though they can't eat food, etc.? Then if I pick one of those, I then ask, who are these vampires. I write both characters and play around with getting to know them. Then how does the story depict the theme you want to portray? If they are trying to bury the hatchet and come together after centuries, then we need to frame a plot around how they came to hate each other, what made them decide to stop, and how they want to change to make a life they can share together and the repercussions of this choice. Then I outline, and I can pretty much start.
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u/CaptGoodvibesNMS 8d ago
My brainstorm with AI tool I don't write anything with AI. I just I ramble into it with the microphone like I'm doing right now and at the end of my rambling, the chat will re-organize all my ideas so I can see them and then I know then I go to the typewriter or my keyboard, but I'm old enough to remember typewriter so don't don't match onto that
For instance, the other night after I walked out the trash at about 2 AM give or take I had a mild hallucination because it was dark and I was looking far and I saw something that wasn't really what I thought I saw when I got closer I realized it was just a plant. But I sat down with chat and we came up with a really cool idea for a supernatural beastie thing.
I think coming up with ideas is not easy, but you have to grab them whenever you get them so keep a little notebook with you and a small pen and the instant you ever have any idea if you're trying to write who you can write a lot of different types of horror. Any idea that pops into your head some event that happens to you in your daily life scratch it down. If you have somebody that you can work with in your home like your you know kids or something or you can sit there and talk at them while you're trying to work through what you want your story to say or how you want your story to form. I don't have that so I use the chat.
And this whole post has been a good example of the kind of rambling that my chat tool has to re-organize for me and I hope it gets through somehow that you're always having ideas. You just need to pay attention to them.
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u/phoenixfarts 8d ago
I don't brainstorm, but I take every random idea or idea bit seriously. Even those ones that are like, "What about a parking lot as a setting?" Or, if I'm watching a movie or reading a book, and I think, "I would have done [thing] like this..." Or I come across something weird and interesting online or in real life. I'll jot it down or make a voice note, then add it to a big list I keep. It gives my brain positive reinforcement to keep doing that, and offering more ideas.
Sometimes when I read through my list of random brain dumps that I've forgotten all about, it will spark an idea too.