Where in the world do you get ideas from?

Ideas. Do you get them from a magical fairy land? Does some mystical force just plop ideas in your head? No. I think not. But ideas do come from a lot of places. These places could include, your brain, something that someone else has said, or what someone else has done. It is not often that you get completely new ideas from your brain, they are usually based on experiences you have had, or are from your subconscious that has seen things with you not knowing it. In fact, I think you would have to have a really exceptional mind to create something that has no relation to anything else in the world. Nowadays you might think that there is not much to be invented, but I bet that before we had phones, or ways of communicating long-distance people thought that to. But there are those you dream of such things. Sure we have ideas and dreams about things all the time, but some people are doing things to make that happen. Just look at all those studies with nano-technology. Otherwise we get most of our ideas from the things around us. You could get inspiration from a painting, a building, even an animal. If you try thinking of something creative, or just made up, with your eyes open, I can almost guaranty that what ever you think of will be based on something in real life. Look at Leonardo Da Vinci, he got his flying machine idea from birds. If there were no birds in the world, I doubt people would even think about being able to fly. Things that people say can trigger ideas as well. They might remind you of something or just say something that makes you think about it, and maybe connect other things with it to form an idea of some kind.
Overall, I think that you can get ideas from almost anything, but it is very hard to get completely new ideas, that are not based on anything else in the world. So no, you don't get ideas from a magical fairy land. You get them from everything around you.

My Favourite stroy from the Short Story Unit- What Makes a Good Story?

Over the whole Short Story unit my favourite story would have to be the "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. This story really drew me in because of the unexpected turn of character, such as Mary Maloney, the perfect housewife. Then she whacks her husband over the head with a frozen leg of lamb. The plot was full of twists and turns, which made you want to keep reading and you never really new what was happening until afterward. It didn't tell you what was happening, it showed you what was happening. A good example of this is when Mary is forming her alibi by going to the Grocer's and coming home to find her husband dead. The conflict of the story was really interesting because it had so many. Mary vs. her husband, Mary vs. society (police) and Mary vs. herself. All of these were hard to figure out, Roald Dahl really made you read between the lines. All in all, "Lamb to the Slaughter" was a great read, with just enough of everything, even sadistic humor, like when she whacks with the leg of lamb. It has great characterization, plot and conflict, which are all the things that make good stories.