A friend of mine's just posted this on the French forum : a site called TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage)
If you haven't heard of it, it's a Wiki about all the tropes, archetypes and stereotypes found in stories - may they be books, films, TV series, animation, comics, mangas, RPGs, video games, etc. It's a real treasure box of ideas for writers and storytellers.
What my friend suggested to do if you run out of ideas for characters/settings/plot devices is to do the following :
1) Go to http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage
2) Click on "Random Item" (right on top of the page)
3) Read the article and think of how you can use the trope.
For example :
-- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OnlyYouCanRepopulateMyRace --> Your character meets a mysterious specimen of the opposite sex who seems to be very interested in the latter, but that character turns out to be the last of his/her kind and wants your MC to be the father/mother of his/her child, so his/her race can survive.
-- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GrammarNazi?from=Main.Grammar... --> Add a character who is obsessed with grammar and goes berserk any time he/she sees words badly spelt. Why not make him/her a Joker-like psychopathic villain who goes on waging a war against mobile phone and Internet companies (which they think are responsible for the degradation of grammar with SMS and Lolcat speak) ?
-- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodCouple --> Add two super heroes or characters with godlike powers and make them fall in love with each other.
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~ The Unquiet Mind (http://minamzi.livejournal.com)
2007 : House of Wolves
2008 : Red Hot Moon (Won)
2009 : The Small Print
17,336 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 15 05
Agh!
"useful" isn't the best word for that site. "Addictive" is a much better term.
Seriously, once you get started you'll lose countless hours. Best to avoid it all in November.
----------:)
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Studio NI, the largest Arts & Culture Group in Northern Ireland:
http://www.orb-store.com/studio
44,021 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 15 26
Ow ! I forgot to mention how dangerously addictive this site is >.<
The makers have even acknowledged it : http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife
It's no different from Wikipedia - and yet, I use it a lot for my research !
Better use it BEFORE november then ;)
----------~ The Unquiet Mind (http://minamzi.livejournal.com)
2007 : House of Wolves
2008 : Red Hot Moon (Won)
2009 : The Small Print
44,452 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 08 34
Darn you, I just wasted half an hour on there! >< And that's getting off lightly! I must second the warning, do not look at that site during november or you'll get nothing done. And probably forget what you were looking for in the first place. And forget to eat, sleep and use the bathroom.
I kid you not. :P
----------Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.
- Philip K. Dick