How do you come up with ideas?

I sat around today and tried to think of book ideas but then I realized that the only ideas I came up with were a rip off of Apocalypse Now and Memento

dreams. reading a lot. studying Jung. studying film. life experience.

Strap yourself screaming in the vague direction of the Absolute so you can't turn away even when you break down and regret it, until it starts revealing itself cataphatically and mythopoeically to you

It's like staring into the sun until your mind breaks and you start seeing non Euclidean sunshapes

Ideas come to you, and if they truly move you (often reflecting a personal struggle of some sort), then you simply can't not write. You need to write to release and explore that part of yourself. Otherwise, its not worth writing. You either need to, or you won't.

Don't sit around.
Go out, go for a walk, look at things, look at people.
The ideas are all out there, packed as thickly as sardines. Take as many as you need and leave the rest.

this.

Also this

What's the difference between being inspired by someone and ripping them off?

Depends on how similar they are. My idea that was ripping off Memento was about a detective who was working on a case but the "gimmick" of the book is that various people he meet along the way were actually the same people that he had forgotten, and because of how books work and you can't see people the reader would have no way of knowing

you copy but are more subtle to it.

i copy borges, but i place the stuff in different contexts, so its just sci fi, not theologic fi.

Say Veeky Forums what makes a character a walking plot device?

This. You never come up with ideas just sitting around. Twain’s inspiration came from the Mississippi River. Steinbeck took his from his experiences working as a ranch hand in california. You’re not going to get any inspiration sitting in your room like a damn NEET.

A few ways I gather ideas:

Let the ideas come to you and just document them. Keep a notebook or cloud based notes app on your devices and document anything and everything that comes to your mind. I use Evernote and have running idea logs, using separate Evernote "notes" documents for story ideas, character ideas, setting ideas, plot ideas, theme ideas, symbol ideas, interesting phrases I hear (quotes, jokes, this guy's exact post which I found cool, etc). Do this diligently for a few days and you'll see that you're actually full of ideas.

Also think about themesor ideas that interest you, or things that piss you off about the world, document them, and look at what sort of interesting events can occur that relate to these themes. For example I was particularly angry at my mom's therapist because I suspected her of intentionally giving my mom terrible advice to fuck up her life so the therapist has more continually visiting client. This event itself was a cool story idea, like from the standpoint of the therapist. Also i dissected why it made me so mad. Someone is coming to you for very serious help and you intentionally harm them for financial gain? Someone you trust to help you, and thin is helping you, is actually the source of your problem? Where else do I see this relationship in society, or in my life? Then I wrote those things down. I look to see what themes are there. For the example I listed I found themes of greed, trust, morality. TL;DR: beyond noting things that you find interesting, mine deeper as to why you find them so interesting

Drugs.

It's a neurological imperative to the construction of the foundation of the imagination.

Reading non-fiction, walking around the city, engaging with culture, forcing myself to write random shit, thinking about the state of the culture, thinking about current themes. All of this can help you. Do you go to college? Whata are you studying?

Anyone else get a strange uncontrollable, childlike excitement when they have a good idea?

Fuck me, yes. It's like discovering something really cool, and it's the sort of high I seek to maintain while writing.

Ideas caught you off-guard when you're doing something else like painting a wall or taking a stroll. Or when you're thinking about stuff at night and can't sleep. At least in my experience. Ideas that come from dreams sound good when you first wake up but when you put them on paper they sound ridiculous and absolutely bonkers, only a few are worth considering.

Read the Greeks and copy their ideas. Nobody will care, and the ones who do notice will think it makes both you and them smart.

What I do
Check my country's folklore
Dreams
Personal life experiences

I feel it all the time when I create new and beautiful metaphors.

But somehow I have a much greater facility in imagining metaphors than plots and ideas for stories and novels.

Read, engage with art, get out of your room, talk to people, push your boundaries, explore what makes you smile because of how much you like it, fail.

A 'high' is a good way to describe it, thought I was the only one

Everyone gets it.

How do i come up with ideas without dismissing and savagely criticising them right away?

bump

The best kind of dopamine hit.

Last idea I had was bringing a story together in my head during a lecture. I was so excitied I left and went home to write.

You might as well give up if you are litteraly having trouble with coming up with anything to say.

I mostly expand off of my years-old mental fiction universe, and I also watch a fugging ton of movies

I'm going to remember this for later.

When it feels like the story is moving him rather than him moving the story

By not being retarded and realizing even the dumbest idea can grow like a crystal into something less retarded. Some ideas are better than others, but no idea isn't worth writing down.

Unironically don't sleep for a day, your technical skills will go to shit but your creativity will explode.

Yes, I'll be giggly for several hours.