> i am considering writing a story, but seeing as how i have no imagination what soever, i cannot come up with a plot. it will probably be science fiction. does anybody have any helps for me on brainstorming or any ideas that might trigger my brain (i'm really terrible at stuff like this.) i really want to do this, but i really can't get started. please help me.

The first thing I can say is to be careful about your caps...as an amateur writer of five years, I reflexively cringe when someone asking for writing advice uses no capital letters in their post. The world doesn't need another e.e. cummings...we have l33t haxx0rz for that.

As for actually brainstorming...well, that's something you're unfortunately going to have to do on your own. If you're writing on your own, nobody can tell you *what* to write...at least, in my experience. It really works better if you write what you *want* to write.

These days, there's no such thing as an original story anymore--any story that can be told, has been told--so it's basically a matter of choosing how to tell the story you want to tell. This being the case, what you probably should do is spend a little time watching some of your favorite shows, or some you haven't seen before, and start getting an idea of how to incorporate things you like to watch into what you want to write. I am, after all this time, finally about to make my first serious attempt at writing an original work of fiction (the last five years have been fanfic, fanfic, fanfic), and I've decided to play around in my new favorite genre...the space western. To that end, I've been overdosing on Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop (anime series) lately, and am probably going to overdose on Trigun before I really get any serious writing started.

It's all about inspiration. Get inspired, get a seed planted, and the rest will grow on its own.

-Trunks (see you Space Cowboy)