Many of ya’ll on here have written fan fiction for your favorite movies or have written some form of story. So I ask, where did the inspiration for your story(ies) come from?
Music. Music. And occasionally, music. XD Could explain why a lot of my early fanfics almost seemed like musicals . . . But I’d have to say inspiration for my newest one, Only Hope, didn’t come from music (well, the title is, but that’s because I have trouble making titles). The inspiration for this fanfic came from a bit of daydreaming. I was in the place of Amy, a powder blue Hudson Hornet just like her. I daydreamed up the exact sequence where Amy is at Willy’s Butte and has a crash a-la Lightning McQueen. Only difference is the name given to the female Hornet.
I may be tempted to write some sort of Chinese historical fiction story now, for in History, we have a creative writing assignment about ancient China.
I ask myself what kind of story would I like to tell? I imagine what adventures the incredibles characters could go through and how I can make people really engaged with the story and characters.
Unfortunately, I always get hit with inspiration for a new piece of writing while I’m in the middle of working on another one. Thing is, I make sure to finish that one before I start my new idea, that way my mind’s clear while I’m writing the new fic.
Anyhow, I get randomly inspired. As far as music goes, that usually gives me artwork inspiration, but I’m always listening to music while I’m writing to set moods, bring out emotion, and get inside the character’s heads. Having music that pertains to what I’m writing on in the background seems to channel through my fingers and subconsciously make its way into the piece.
A lot of the fics I’ve written have come out of stories my sister and I make up together based on some of our favorite Pixar characters blended with our own OCs. Something will take place in our stories that gives me inspiration, and I’m like, “dang, that would make such a sick fanfiction!” The only fic I can think of at the moment that wasn’t actually inspired by one of our stories is Higher Calling, which is basically following Captain McCrea’s journey to becoming captain and bringing the humans safely home. I just had this strange passion for his character and felt that since he was so underrated he deserved the story of the film told from his POV. I’m very, very proud of the result, and although it’s probably one of my shorter fics, it’s definitely one of my best. 
little chef
All kinds of places. In general, it tends to start with a “what if?” coming to mind. “What if this happened next ?” “What if this is how this character felt?” “What if this had gone a different direction?” stuff like that.
Well, here’s how I come up with some good ideas for a story:
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get inspired by another form of work and make it different (like me with my intergalatic civil war idea, it was inspired by Star Wars)
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(if you think this is weird, I’m sorry, but I’m dead serious when I say…) the shower…yeah…it’s just basically relaxing and it helps keep the brain flowing…don’t ask why, please…
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for a fan fiction, maybe you could try looking at some underrated Pixar character and make up a story about what he/she went through, just like little_chef thought.
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usually when I’m bored…during class in school, I know, but it’s a good way to come up with ideas, because you don’t have to listen to the teacher for 2 hours (sorry, this definitely won’t work
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EDIT: I almost forgot! Music is definitely a good thing to be inspired from. Even the oddest bunch of songs can become great story ideas (thinks of I’m On A Boat on second thought…) For example, I think that “Little Weapon” by Lupe Fiasco (PG-13 stuff due to it’s partly violent descriptions and language) might be a good story idea, but it probably won’t be due to the controversy that will surround it! 
Well, I don’t know if this will help you or not (especially the last one ), but this is how I do it!
Well, Incredibles hit me hard in the inspiration department. I was already going the route of animation/comics, but that pushed me over the edge for sure. At the same time, I was bringing back my old super heroes story and was also into Teen Titans in a big way. So I thought, “well, if Vi - and eventually Dash - are teens, and the titans are teens, and my chars are teens… dude, that be awesome!”
Since then almost anything can cause a story to pop up. A picture online, something I saw on the city streets (Detroit’s a mean place 
), but mainly music. Most recently…looks like B.E.P.'s Showdown. Started me thinking up a fight scene. 
Seriously, these pop up at the most random times. Any random story will usually tie into other so sometimes I’m the only one who understands a ref, which makes it difficult to write just one storyline. Perhaps one day I’ll learn better and organize this tangled mess I call a crossover.
Great topic, btw!
I usually get inspired by movies, TV, and games to do my stories. Sometimes, even listening to music inspires me.
Yeah, most of my inspiration comes from entertainment, which also inspires me to write a familiar story, but adapt it so that it has a new style.
Here’s some examples:
WALL•E adapted as a high school teen drama
Finding Nemo adapted as an action thriller
Pajama Sam adapted as a manga
I’ve only written one crossover fanfic in impermanent hiatus at the mo’, but I’ve entertained many story ideas, usually in the sci-fi, police-procedural, or fantasy genre.
I get most of my inspirations from movies, TV shows and books. I watch as many as possible to get a ‘feel’ for the genre; what conventions to follow, what sort of characters populate this world, what ‘language’ do they speak, and the challenges they face. Once I know the rules, I ask myself: “How do I break them?”
So for example, on one of my more lucid daydreams, I wonder: “What if the dragon in a fantasy tale was the hero, and the humans the bad guys?” (This has already been explored in E.E. Knight’s Dragon Champion, which I’m reading now)
But yeah, once you know the rules, you can play with them, and that’s what I usually do with my fanwork (most of you who have seen my mash-up videos or artwork would’ve got an idea of my ‘style’).
Oh, and instrumental soundtracks too. Anything John Powell, Harry Gregson Williams, Immediate Music, X-Ray Dog, etc.
Well, both Antz AND A Bug’s Life inspired an “original” story of mine about three wasp (Yellowjacket) brothers who are trying in all the wrong ways to make their frustrated aunt proud of them. I know I’m breaking the “female only” rule in that world, but it’s for the sake of story-telling XD . There were originally four brothers, but that became a little too hard to work with.
Thanks a lot, wasps from Antz 
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Chr*st on a bike! Pajama Sam! I remember that dude =3 !