My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl.
Sarah ZettelI describe my plots as follows; A character is walking down the street when all of a sudden a piano falls on them. They spend the rest of the story digging out from under that piano. How they dig, how long and how well, this all depends entirely on the character.
Sarah ZettelActually, after while, finding the ideas is the easy part. Sorting them through and turning them into stories, now, that's the hard work.
Sarah Zettel