User blog:Mr. Odd/Inspirations

As we reach over 700 articles (and will likely increase to 800 or more before the end of the year) some may be suffering from a lack of inspiration or find themselves struggling to find unique characters, stories or names..

the following websites and methods are helpful and I hope by reading this people, old and new, can be inspired:

Anagram Maker
this is largely for character creation but I suppose it could also work for the title of stories if one was creative enough:

http://www.angelfire.com/biz/WLAW/anagram.html

Seventh Sanctum
A treasure trove of ideas for stories, characters and many other things - think of this as a Holy Grail for fiction writers such as ourselves and easily one of the most useful resources for free-style Role Playing I have come across.

Website: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

Superpowers Wiki
A tactic I sometimes use is to go to the Superpowers Wiki and click on "Random Page" - then fashion a character around whatever superpower is displayed (this is how I created Mr. Odd).

You'll be surprised how with a little imagination one can quickly create new and interesting characters in this manner, especially if you are lucky enough to land upon a page that has a relatively obscure ability.

Website: http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Superpower_Wiki

Character Mash-Ups
A slightly controversial method if used wrong and definitely one that requires serious thought beforehand is a "character mash-up" in which one takes two random character profiles and tries to create a unique character via picking bits and pieces of the characters' backstories, personalities and powers.

This method can work wonders when used responsibly but can be seen as dangerous for several reasons: when doing this be sure to acknowledge your inspiratons so as not to be accused of "copy-pasting" and if a creator specifically asks you not to use this method with their characters respect their wishes.

Songs / Music
Find a song or piece of music you like and try to make a story out of the lyrics or song title - often songs tell a story in themselves so this can be a great way to express yourself while also listening to great tunes and introducing them to the wiki (be mindful however that songs and music are copyrighted so do not claim the actual songs as your own - they are your inspiration, not your property)

Adaptations Of Folklore / Novels / Plays etc
Same as above - folklore, books, movies and so on give us amazing stories and by adapting them we can add unique flavors to timeless classics: it is acceptable to pay homage to anything as long as you acknowledge the source (for example - Dracula is public domain and Sherlock Holmes is also a stock character of fiction).

A common theme in this is taking ancient myths, legends or stories and putting them in modern settings - which can have interesting results.

Tournaments, Challenges and Events
This is more a suggestion than anything else but another good way to start potential new stories or characters is to hold Tournaments, challenge other users to Brawls and host special Events:

Villains Olympics perhaps? Feats of Strength? Achievements? it could all be implimented with time and who knows what could spawn from it..

Anyways, hope this helps out and happy editting.