20 Places I Go (Mentally and Literally) to Find Story Ideas

Every non-writer on Earth thinks the same thing: “Where do you get your ideas?” And every writer on Earth gives the same useless answer: “Oh, they just come to me.”

That’s technically true — but it’s also wildly incomplete. Ideas don’t fall out of the sky. They emerge from specific mental states, environments, activities, and habits. The writers who “always have ideas” aren’t more creative than you — they’ve just built a system for finding them.

Here are 20 places I go — mentally and literally — when I need story ideas. Some are obvious. Some are weird. All of them work.

If you’re also battling general creative block or full-on writer’s block, these double as unblocking strategies.

1. History Books (the Footnotes, Specifically)

The main text of history books gives you what happened. The footnotes give you the strange, bizarre, heartbreaking details that make incredible fiction. That’s where you find the stories history didn’t have room for — the ones that start with “Interestingly, there’s no explanation for why…”

Every unexplained footnote is a short story waiting to happen.

2. Strangers’ Conversations in Public

Coffee shops, airports, grocery stores — anywhere people talk without expecting an audience. You’re not eavesdropping (okay, you are, but for art). You’re listening for the fragment that makes your brain say, “Wait, what’s the story there?”

“She said she’d come back for it, but she never did.” What was it? Who is she? Why didn’t she come back? That’s your next chapter.

3. Old Family Photos You’ve Never Asked About

Dig through family photo albums — especially the old ones. Find the photos where you don’t recognize the people, or where the context is lost. Ask an older relative about them, or better yet, don’t ask. Just imagine.

Who are they? What were they doing that day? What happened ten minutes after this photo was taken? Some of the most emotionally resonant fiction comes from real photographs and imagined stories.

4. Museums (the Small, Weird Ones)

Everybody goes to the big museums. But the small, niche museums — the ones dedicated to medical instruments, or typewriters, or a specific local event — are where the strangest and most compelling ideas live.

Every artifact in a museum was once part of someone’s daily life. Pick one up (mentally — don’t touch the exhibits) and imagine the person who used it.

5. The News, Two Layers Deep

The front page gives you drama. But the real stories — the ones with novel-quality complexity — are two layers deep. Read past the headline, past the article, into the background: who are the people affected? What led up to this? What’s the story nobody is telling?

The best writing advice is often “notice what others overlook.”

6. My Own Worst Experiences

The things that hurt you the most — grief, failure, betrayal, embarrassment, fear — are the richest source material you have. Not because you should write memoir (though you can), but because emotional truth transfers directly into fiction.

A character who feels the way you felt during your worst moment will resonate with every reader who has ever felt the same.

7. Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” and “TIFU” Threads

I’m not even a little ashamed of this one. Reddit’s most popular storytelling communities are a masterclass in human conflict, moral ambiguity, and the wild things people do under pressure.

Every AITA post is essentially a story premise: two people with conflicting values, a specific incident, and no clear right answer. That’s the raw material of literary fiction.

8. Long Drives With No Destination

Something about driving — the mild physical engagement, the changing scenery, the sense of motion — unlocks the storytelling part of my brain. Ideas that refuse to surface at my desk appear fully formed at 70 mph.

If I’m really stuck, I drive to nowhere. No podcast. No music. Just me, the road, and whatever my brain wants to create.

9. “What If” Conversations With Friends

Grab a friend — preferably one with a dark sense of humor — and play “What If.” What if time travel existed but only worked backward at 1:1 speed? What if everyone woke up tomorrow speaking a different language? What if gravity reversed for 30 seconds every day?

The most absurd premises often lead to the most interesting stories when you take them seriously.

10. Children

Talk to a kid. Ask them to tell you a story. Kids have zero respect for narrative convention and absolute commitment to emotional honesty. They’ll give you a plot that involves a dragon who is also a dentist who is also sad because his best friend is a cloud.

It’s nonsensical and wildly creative, and it will remind you that stories don’t have to follow rules to be powerful.

11. My Own Dreams (When I Remember Them)

Most dreams are useless noise. But occasionally — maybe once a month — I wake up with a scene, a feeling, or an image so vivid that it begs to be written.

I keep a notebook by my bed for exactly this. The window for dream recall is about 60 seconds after waking. If you don’t capture it immediately, it’s gone.

12. Walking Through Neighborhoods I Don’t Live In

Different neighborhoods have different stories. Walk through one you’ve never explored. Notice the houses, the stores, the people. What kind of life happens here? What kind of characters live in that apartment above the laundromat?

Setting generates character, and character generates plot. Sometimes a story starts with a place.

13. Obituaries

This sounds morbid. It is morbid. But obituaries are the most compressed life stories on the planet. In 200 words, they contain an entire human arc: birth, love, achievement, loss, legacy.

Read the ones that surprise you. The retired teacher who climbed Everest at 67. The teenager who started a nonprofit before they could drive. These are stories begging to be expanded.

14. Academic Papers About Weird Topics

Google Scholar is a treasure trove if you search for the right things. “Psychology of false confessions.” “History of abandoned subway stations.” “Linguistics of secret languages.” “Biology of parasites that control behavior.”

Every weird academic paper contains a narrative premise that 99.9% of fiction writers will never find. Get off the beaten path.

15. Creative Writing Exercises and Prompts

Sometimes the idea finds you through the exercise. A random writing exercise about a locked room, or a character’s worst day, or an object that changes hands — these prompts can spark ideas that grow far beyond the exercise itself.

Keep a folder of promising fragments. They compound over time.

16. My Biggest “What If I Had Done Things Differently?” Moments

We all have them. The alternate timelines of our own lives. What if I’d taken that job? Moved to that city? Said yes instead of no?

These personal alternate realities are emotionally rich because they matter to you. They’re also universally relatable — every reader has their own unlived lives.

17. Art Exhibitions and Galleries

A single painting can contain an entire novel’s worth of story. Who is this person? Why do they look like that? What just happened? What’s about to happen?

Visual art engages your narrative brain differently than text does. Go to a gallery. Let the images trigger stories.

18. Maps (Old and New)

Old maps show places that no longer exist, borders that have shifted, and trade routes that shaped civilizations. New maps show the places between famous places — the small towns, the unnamed islands, the roads that go somewhere nobody talks about.

Story ideas for writers are hiding in the geography nobody notices.

19. Therapy (Yes, Really)

If you’re in therapy (and many writers should be), pay attention to the patterns your therapist identifies. The defense mechanisms. The recurring themes. The stories you tell yourself about yourself.

These psychological patterns are universal. They show up in your characters whether you intend them to or not. Understanding your own psychology makes you a better writer of human behavior.

20. An AI Brainstorming Partner

When I’ve exhausted my own brain, I ask AI. Not to write for me — to throw ideas at me. “Give me five completely different takes on this premise.” “What would a different genre do with this character?” “What’s the most unexpected direction this plot could go?”

Storyloft’s AI assistant is designed for this exact use case — creative brainstorming that keeps your voice at the center while helping you see angles you wouldn’t have found alone.

Ideas Are Everywhere. You Just Need to Look.

The writers who never run out of ideas aren’t geniuses — they’re collectors. They move through the world with their antenna up, always asking “what’s the story here?”

Build that habit, and you’ll never face a blank page without something to say.

More Creativity and Inspiration Resources

• 27 Ways I Find Writing Inspiration When My Creativity Completely Dies
• 19 Funny but Effective Ways to Beat Writer’s Block
• 23 Creative Exercises That Make Me a Better Writer Every Time
• 31 Ways to Stay Motivated While Writing Your Book
• 24 Brutally Honest Truths About Writing a Book No One Warned Me About

Never run out of ideas again. See how Storyloft fuels your creativity →