Occasionally, a creator will share a story on how they came up with the idea for their work. Perhaps they attribute it to [[WriteWhatYouKnow something that happened to them]], [[WriteWhoYouKnow someone they know]] or one idea or character captured their attention and built the story from there. Either way, it's often interesting to learn about.

A SuperTrope to BasedOnADream (if the plot was based on someone's dreams or nightmares), SerendipityWritesThePlot (if it's inspired by a real-life technical difficulty), RippedFromTheHeadlines (if it's based on a real-life news story) and FollowTheLeader (if someone came up with the idea based on something already popular[[note]]However, if they came up with the ''idea'' on their own and merely had the popular work influence aspects of it, it still belongs here.[[/note]]).

Compare RealLifeWritesThePlot and RealitySubtext. See also {{Homage}} and {{Pastiche}} for when one work intentionally draws influence from another. Lastly, there's InspiredBy, for when it's more loosely BasedOnATrueStory or similar.
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!!Example subpages:

[[index]]
* [[InspirationForTheWork/CVGWJames CVGWJames]]
* [[InspirationForTheWork/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
[[/index]]

!!Other examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': [[https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/class-is-in-session-a-conversation-with-yusei-matsui/ In this interview]], [[Creator/YuuseiMatsui the author]] reveals that an image of school children shooting at their teacher popped into his head one day. He decided to use this concept as a base to make a full blown manga: The teacher was given super speed so that the story wouldn't end at Chapter 1, the kids were placed in a building far from the campus so that the racket wouldn't disturb the other classrooms, and so on.
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' was inspired by an incident that occurred while author Hajime Isayama was working at an Internet cafe, in which an irate customer seized him by the collar and yelled at him. This incident caused Isayama to reflect on how frightening it is to meet someone you can't communicate with, and created the silent, monstrous Titans to express that fear.
* In a Website/{{Reddit}} [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2020-08-19/deca-dence-director-yuzuru-tachikawa-shares-wreck-it-ralph-inspirations-in-reddit-ama/.163073 AMA session]] to promote ''Anime/DecaDence'', director Yuzuru Tachikawa revealed that the movie ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' served as the basis of inspiration for the series, mainly in how the characters from different [=IPs=] band together against a greater threat.
* ''Manga/TheDangersInMyHeart'': [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2022-08-01/exclusive-the-dangers-in-my-heart-manga-artist-norio-sakurai/.188103 During an interview to celebrate the announcement for the anime]], Norio Sakurai states that she's fan of idols, having dreamt about what it would be like to go to school with her favorite one and interact with them. She built the series around this and bases [[ShrinkingViolet Ichikawa's]] actions around what she feels she would do in his shoes.
* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', after the series’ immense popularity had reached all kinds of curious interested parties, many have claimed the story and characters share similarities with some popular contemporary {{Shonen}} Manga; a Creator/VizMedia interview with Gotouge’s editor doesn’t hide it, ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', and ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' were cited as being some of Gotouge’s favorite series and clear inspirations for this work.
* Creator/AkiraToriyama's increased involvement in ''Franchise/DragonBall'' starting with ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' came about from his disappointment with the live action ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' movie. More directly, the idea of bringing back Freeza for next movie after ''Battle of Gods'' — ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' — owes its existence to him listening to Music/MaximumTheHormone[=’s=] FilkSong “F”, with the song itself being the movie’s namesake and used as an insert song.
* ''Manga/TheElusiveSamurai'': In the author's comment section of Volume 1, Creator/YuuseiMatsui states that he was great at dodging dodgeballs in his youth, so Tokiyuki and his elusive abilities were designed to recreate the thrill of feeling like a hero after being the last one standing at the end of a dodgeball game.
* According to [[https://media.comicspace.jp/archives/3753 an interview with Aka Akasaka]], the writing of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is inspired by ''Manga/SchoolRumble''.
* The ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' anime [[WhatCouldHaveBeen was originally going to be]] a standard MagicalGirl show [[AdaptationDisplacement much like the game it was based on]] until someone in the production crew commented that the main character's costume (specifically, her GiantPoofySleeves) made her look like a ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''. They then decided to run with that idea, creating a MagicalGirl show that greatly uses HumongousMecha show tropes, a decision that proved successful enough to give birth to the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' franchise.
* ''Anime/MazingerZ'' was inspired by Creator/GoNagai being stuck in traffic and wishing there was a way to get around them.
* For ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', ''Manga/DragonBall'' was a big influence. Naruto's [[HighlyVisibleNinja outfit]] was even created as a ShoutOut to Goku's Iconic Gi. Creator/MasashiKishimoto has mentioned in interviews that the works of Creator/YoshihiroTogashi, ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' and ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', were also major influences on his plot.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': According to Creator/EiichiroOda, ''Manga/DragonBall'' was a major inspiration to the point where he collaborated with ''Dragon Ball'' author Creator/AkiraToriyama for quite a few crossovers including ''Cross Epoch''. Another major source of inspiration was ''Literature/VickyTheViking'', which sparked a young Oda's fascination with pirates.
* Reiji Miyajima got the inspiration to create ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' after reading an online article about Chinese men hiring rental girlfriends to impress their parents during the Lunar New Year holidays, [[https://kodanshacomics.com/2020/06/03/creator-interview-reiji-miyajima-on-rent-a-girlfriend/ according to an interview by the manga's English publisher Kodansha Comics]]. He even hired a rental girlfriend in order to immerse himself into the experience.
* According to Mathers Numakichi in [[https://themanwithpants.tumblr.com/post/130917785978/jast-shiny-days-interview-with-school-days-series an interview]], ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays''’s story was partially inspired by ''Film/{{Fargo}}''.
* ''Manga/SummerTimeRendering'': Out of [[https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1664409801&p=2 all the games]] that had some influence on the series, the most notable ones are ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', which inspired the time loop elements, and the ''VideoGame/SirenGames'', of which multiple plot beats (such as Hiruko's origin and the final battle) pay homage to.
* Tamiki Wakaki has [[https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1704/16/news007.html cited]] that ''Manga/TheWorldGodOnlyKnows'' was influenced by ''VisualNovel/YuNo''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' was created after Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird stayed up late drinking and drawing cartoons. One of them drew a picture of a turtle on two feet with nunchaku strapped to his arms, and they decided to develop the idea further. The series also drew a lot of inspiration from ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' and a little from the ''ComicBook/XMen'', originating as a parody of Creator/FrankMiller's run on the former.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'':
** Creator/AlanMoore cited Creator/HarveyKurtzman's satire "Superduperman" as his main inspiration. He also described literary inspirations such as ''Literature/MobyDick'', Creator/ThomasPynchon and Creator/BertoltBrecht for his attitude to the plot. Creator/WillEisner's ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' for its humanism, its use of New York locales, and its focus on ordinary people and how they relate to the Spirit was also an influence.
** Creator/SteveDitko was a major inspiration for both Moore and Dave Gibbons. The characters are derivatives of Ditko's Charlton creations, while Rorschach was intended as a {{Deconstruction}} of ''ComicBook/MrA''. Both Moore and Gibbons also took inspiration from Ditko's eye for character creation to create figures who were iconic and recognizable even if they were one-shot characters. Gibbons also cited Ditko's art on his run of [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko The Amazing Spider-Man]] as a major inspiration, especially for its blend of real places with the bizarre and fantastic as well as his use of the 9 Panel Grid.
* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' was witten in response to UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher being elected Prime Minister for a third term and Moore wondering what it would take to push Britain into Germany of the 1930s.
* ''ComicBook/FromHell'' was partly inspired by the title of ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'', in that it explores the notion that to solve a crime holistically, one would need to solve the entire society in which it occurred.
* ''ComicBook/BratPack'' was influenced by the publicity stunt for ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily'' in which readers voted to kill off Jason Todd, as well as long-standing criticisms of the superhero genre.
* ''ComicBook/StrangeAdventures2020'', according to writer Creator/TomKing, was cooked up as a result of an angry tweet targeting his past as a CIA operative, accusing him of having committed war crimes and taking up writing to hide it. The story for the series was effectively King going "but what if he really was hiding his past?", and used the character of ComicBook/AdamStrange as a retired space hero to explore the division between his superhero adventures and [[{{Deconstruction}} the truth of what his life was actually like]].
* Creator/AlanMoore got the idea for ''Lost Girls'' once he started thinking about how to approach pornography in comics and started thinking about ''Literature/PeterPan'', while Melinda Gebbie was fond of stories that had three protagonists.
-->I thought it might be interesting to sexually de-code the Peter Pan story. I was thinking about [[UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud Freud]]'s insistence that to fly in dreams is a sexual symbol and I started thinking about Peter Pan and Wendy, and how Wendy is at that kind of age where she probably would be starting to experience sexual feelings...Melinda happened to say, quite by chance that she, in the past, had written a couple of stories that had three women as the main characters. She said she liked the idea of having three woman as protagonists. So consequently that was when it all crystallized; Melinda’s three women idea collided with my Peter Pan idea and I suddenly thought, well, what if you have three women? What if Wendy was just one of them? Who would the other two be?
* Creator/KieronGillen says the idea for ''ComicBook/{{Three}}'' came to him when reading ''ComicBook/ThreeHundred'' and being annoyed at the audacity of Leonidas calling Spartans, who were known to hunt any of their slaves that escaped, "the only free people the world has ever known".
* Creator/TomDeFalco got the idea for ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'' after having to mediate several arguments between his brother and niece. She wanted to follow her father's footsteps as a cop due to sense of responsibility he installed in her. He argued he become a cop to make world safer for her, not to see her put herself in danger.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
** The strip itself was born from a rejected strip from Bill Watterson, whose cast included a younger brother with a stuffed tiger. He was told these two were the strip's strongest characters and to develop them. Watterson thus cut the rest of the cast and reworked the strip to star those two.
** Spaceman Spiff, Calvin's space man fantasy, came from an earlier comic idea by Watterson, where Spiff was an obnoxious space adventurer who traveled around space with his dumb assistant Fargle in a dirigible. That concept traced itself to an earlier two page comic he wrote while bored in college German class.
** [[invoked]] The famous dead raccoon storyline (where it's generally agreed that the comic [[GrowingTheBeard Grew The Beard]]) was inspired by Watterson's wife finding a dead kitten on their doorstep.
** Similar to the raccoon arc, the [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/09/19/ dead bird]] Sunday strip was inspired by Watterson finding a dead bird and sketching it, which serves as the first panel.
* T.K. Ryan claimed to have created ''ComicStrip/{{Tumbleweeds}}'' after reading Zane Grey's Western novels while recovering from an illness.
* The Bash Street Kids of ComicBook/TheBeano was inspired by the view from the D. C. Thomson & Co. office windows, overlooking the High School of Dundee playground. According to Leo Baxendale:
-->In fact, the catalyst for my creation of Bash Street was a Giles cartoon of January 1953: kids pouring out of school, heads flying off and sundry mayhems. Straight away, I pencilled a drawing of "The Kids of Bash Street School" and posted it from my home in Preston to R. D. Low, the managing editor of D.C. Thomson's children's publications in Dundee. I received an offhand response, a dampener. It was only after I'd created Little Plum (April 1953) and Minnie the Minx (September 1953) that the Beano editor George Moonie travelled to Preston on 20 October 1953 and asked me to go ahead with Bash Street (he gave it the provisional title of When The Bell Goes; when it appeared in The Beano in February 1954, it was titled 'When The Bell Rings'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AsFateWouldHaveIt'' was inspired by two things, namely the storytelling of a VisualNovel, as well as the fact that the Xtransceiver shipping was seen as criminally underrated in the fandom.
* The characters of Cub Simba and Nala influenced ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures''.
* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fanfic ''Fanfic/InShortSupply'' came about when the author noticed that she had never seen a good [[MisterSeahorse mpreg]] fic and wanted to see if she could make one.
* As [[http://www.ponyfictionarchive.net/viewuser.php?uid=555 mentioned]] in the Pony Fiction Archive, emkajii was first inspired to write ''Fanfic/EquestriaTotalWar'' after reading [[https://www.deviantart.com/equestria-prevails/art/The-New-Royal-Guard-test-pg-261081468 a one-shot comic page]] by Equestria-Prevails.
* Kkat wrote [[https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/534131/the-wisdom-of-dan-shive a blog post]] crediting [[https://www.deviantart.com/danshive/art/Fallout-Pony-Vegas-198861953 an artwork]] by Dan Shive (of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'') called “Fallout Pony Vegas” as the original inspiration for ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria''.
* ''Fanfic/FlowingStar'': The idea of Lincoln remaining estranged with with his family and not being able to reconcile with them, even if he can end his relationship with most of them in better terms was inspired by the end of a NSL fanfic called ''Fanfic/LongLostLoud''.
* Creator/GreenPhantomQueen wrote ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' because she was annoyed by the lack of CharacterDevelopment [[Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Chloe Cerise]] had been receiving in the anime, and the partly number of fan works exploring the character (there was only one other Chloe-focused story on [=AO3=] at the time). Ironically, the first chapter was posted just ''days'' before Episode 29, which turned out to a major Chloe-focused episode that delved a bit into her backstory. The author later admits that she was also increasingly annoyed with all of the DoubleStandard going on between Goh and Chloe.
** The prequel story, ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily'', was inspired by how Gladion was treated in the Nihilego incident in the Pokémon Sun and Moon anime -- where he was the DesignatedHero because of how he sacrificed everything for his sister when it's revealed that he withheld critical information about her trauma and all the blame was thus plased on Lusamine's shoulders for not being aware of this -- and wanted to have him face the consequences of his narrow-minded thinking.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBoilingPoint'' was inspired by ''Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail'' and was originally going to be a ''Pokémon'' and ''Infinity Train'' fanfic before it was swapped with ''The Owl House''.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainStarFinder'' was inspired by ''Infinity Train: Seeker of Crocus'' and ''Infinity Train: Crown of Thorns'', according to the author notes of the story.
* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}} (''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''):
** The authors met each other on a fan page about ''Winx Club'' and ''World of Warcraft'', proceeded to roleplay their respective favorite Winx girl, and then started wondering about how the Winx's children would be and what kind of adventures they'd live. These ideas slowly wove into the fanfic we can read nowadays.
** Crowgirl is a fangirl of Sylvanas Windrunner, thus prompting the idea of having one of the [[FanCreatedOffspring OCs]] as her apprentice, a.k.a. Trisha.
** In the same vein, Popsicle enjoys the "Wrath of the Lich King" expansion, which is why Altalune gets to use the iconic Froustmourne.
* The ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' fanfic "Where The Light Is" was mainly inspired by the DirectLineToTheAuthor scenes in ''Literature/GravityFallsJournal3'', creating a story about what might happen if someone were to buy it and then go to Gravity Falls.
* The developer commentary for the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fangame ''VideoGame/FlawedCrystals'' lists several. While ''VideoGame/AttackTheLight'' (a LicensedGame of ''Steven Universe'') is an obvious inspiration, greater inspiration was taken from ''VideoGame/AlterAILA'' and several games by UsefulNotes/RPGMaker developer Craze. In particular, the aversion of ArbitraryHeadcountLimit was inspired by ''Czarina Must Die!'' doing the same.
* ''Fanfic/StevenUniverseAlternateFuture'':
** The author's notes for "Love Like You" confirms that ''Alternate Future'' was inspired by ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' and ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', both of which also overhauled the source material to tell a new story.
** Meanwhile, ''The Black Pearl Brigade'' is stated to be inspired by ''[[Film/BlackWidow2021 Black Widow]]'', ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch''.
** ''Series/{{Community}}'', ''Series/ThirtyRock'', ''Series/TheMiddle'', ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' and ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' are credited for inspiring ''Little Homeworld Life''.
** The sole inspiration for ''The Trial of Black Rutile'' comes from "[[Recap/TransformersAnimatedS4E01TheTrialOfMegatron The Trial of Megatron]]", a script reading for what would've been the fourth season premiere of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', as revealed in a director's commentary commemorating the story's second anniversary.
** ''Two Sides of the Same Gem'' is said to be inspired by the likes of "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E4MirrorMirror Mirror Mirror]]" from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', ''ComicBook/TransformersShatteredGlass'', ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'', and ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankRiftApart''.
** WordOfGod stated in a Tumblr ask [[https://andrewmoocow.tumblr.com/post/689153369932234752/so-why-did-you-add-the-slytherophidians-to that]] the idea of the Snake People came to him after watching ''WesternAnimation/PlanetHulk'' on Netflix, and they'll also take inspiration from ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' and ''VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Creator/SteveOedekerk got the ideas for ''WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}}'' when he visited a friend's house and his dog followed him around as he was exiting. After he left, he imagined the dog standing up on two legs and saying "I thought that guy would never leave!"
* The Hungarian film ''[[Animation/FoamBath Habfürdő]]'' (''Foam Bath'' or ''Bubble Bath'') came about when director György Kovásznai, an experimental artist with anti establishment views wondered if animation could surpass the confines of fantasy and whimsy (a la Creator/{{Disney}}) and tell a completely down to earth story about Budapest life. His wanted to flip Disney on its head; instead of an immaculately and appealingly animated fantasy story about one-note characters, he wanted a movie where the story and characters are realistic and mundane and the animation is [[DerangedAnimation grotesque and detached from reality]].
* Creator/WesAnderson has said that he was inspired to make ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs'' by seeing a road sign for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Dogs Isle of Dogs]] in England while ''WesternAnimation/FantasticMrFox'' was in development.
* The writers of ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' got the concept from the following question: What if Lex Luthor defeated Franchise/{{Superman}}?
* Creator/TimBurton got the idea for ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' after seeing a local store [[ChristmasCreep put up Christmas decorations immediately after Halloween ended]], which made him wonder what would happen if these two different holidays were mixed up.
* ''Anime/PatlaborTheMovie'': The Biblical symbolism that permeates the script was inspired by Creator/MamoruOshii noticing that Noa Izumi's given name sounded like [[Literature/BookOfGenesis the biblical Noah]].
* {{Creator/Pixar}}:
** Creator/JohnLasseter got the idea for ''WesternAnimation/TinToy'' after seeing his infant son playing rough with toys, and wondered what it would be like from the toys' perspective. ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' started out as a spinoff with ''Tin Toy'''s protagonist Tinny, before being reworked into an original idea.
*** Much of the premise of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', as well as Al's character, is based on Lasseter being an avid toy collector in real life. Specifically, he recounted a day where his children visited his office and wanted to play with all the toys and he was constantly trying to stop them from messing with what he considered too valuable. This led him to wonder what it must be like from a toy's perspective being a collectable who isn't meant to be played with.
** Creator/AndrewStanton got the idea for ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' from multiple factors, including from seeing the fish tank at his childhood dentist's office and wondering if the fish were from the ocean and wanting to go home; a visit to an aquarium in California and imagining a CGI-film set underwater; and a visit to the park with his son, where he ended up becoming overprotective and realizing that this was preventing him from having a good bonding moment with him.
** Creator/BradBird not only took influence from various classic superhero comics for ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'', but also based it off of his own experiences where he was both working at a job and trying to spend time with his family, and became concerned one would overshadow the other.
** Lasseter said that inspiration for ''WesternAnimation/Cars1'' came after he took a cross-country road trip with his wife and five sons in 2000.
** Lasseter said that he was convinced of ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'''s story while traveling around the world promoting the first film. He said:
-->I kept looking out thinking, 'What would Mater do in this situation, you know?' I could imagine him driving around on the wrong side of the road in the UK, going around in big, giant traveling circles in Paris, on the autobahn in Germany, dealing with the motor scooters in Italy, trying to figure out road signs in Japan.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' came about when Creator/PeteDocter developed the fantasy of a flying house on the idea of escaping from life when it becomes too irritating, which stemmed from his difficulty with social situations growing up. He selected an old man for the main character after drawing a picture of a grumpy old man with smiling balloons.
** Creator/DanScanlon was inspired to make ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'' after hearing a recording of his father who had died when Scanlon was young, which made him wonder what his father had been like when he was alive.
** ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'':
*** As explained in various [[https://www.polygon.com/22947922/turning-red-pixar-anime-influences interviews]], director Domee Shi took inspiration from five Japanese anime regarding the film's creation: ''Manga/FruitsBasket'', ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', ''Anime/SailorMoon'', ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'', and ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro''. The first two in particular share themes of adolescence and transformations in wacky situations with the film. ''Sailor Moon'' proved the "dreamy, feminine, color palette" of film, alongside [[ColorCodedCharacters color coded friends]]. ''Totoro'' helped with capturing a "iconic grabbable giant animal that you just want to rub your face in", alongside Miyazaki's SliceOfLife moments.
*** In terms of Western works, Domee Shi [[https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/domee-shi-interview-turning-red-inspirations took inspiration]] from ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie'', ''Film/TeenWolf'', ''Film/TheLuckOfTheIrish'', ''Film/TheThirteenthYear'', ''Series/Pen15'', and ''Film/LadyBird''. [[Creator/DisneyChannel DCOMs]] like ''Irish'' and ''Thirteenth Year'' build upon {{Puberty Superpower}}s themes, while ''Goofy'' focused on parent-child relationships and plot-relevant pop singers like Powerline.
*** According to [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/04/15/turning-red-director-gamer/ The Washington Post]]'s interview, videogames that inspired the movie's visuals included ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolfwalkers}}'' was first inspired by legends of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolves_of_Ossory the Werewolves of Ossory]], which director Tomm Moore first learned about when taking part in the Young Irish Filmmakers program. Years later, after watching a documentary series about UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell and his aim to wipe out Ireland's wolf population in order to "tame" the country, Moore was inspired to combine those events with the stories of the Werewolves of Ossory.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' came about when Creator/BretEastonEllis met with Wall Street bankers as research. They took him out to lunches, dinners and clubs, but not once did he see them work or spend time in their offices. The one-upmanship between them inspired him to change the course of the story.
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' is quite famously based on UsefulNotes/TheRussianRevolution and Creator/{{George Orwell}}'s opposition to Stalinism as a diehard socialist. However, the story was also inspired by Orwell seeing a boy leading a cart-horse, whipping it all the while. Orwell had then thought that if animals ever realized just how strong they are, they could defeat the human race and end up running the world, with him then realizing that this could potentially become a FullCircleRevolution and he could use this to write a BeastFable critiquing the rise of Stalinism in the Soviet Union.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov deserves an entire section here:
** ''Literature/TheEarlyAsimov'': The entire novel is an {{Invoked}} case. To further clarify, it largely consists of Dr Asimov [[DiscussedTrope discussing]] the inspirations for each work in the short story [[{{Anthology}} collection]] (assuming he recalls what may have inspired each story).
** ''Literature/Nightfall1941'' was inspired by a conversation he and his editor-slash-friend Creator/JohnWCampbell had about a famous quote from Creator/RalphWaldoEmerson concerning the beauty of the night sky. Emerson's optimistic quote on the matter goes that "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, [[TheSacredDarkness how would men believe and adore,]] [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!]]" Campbell's cynical rebuttal to that statement was instead that "[[GoMadFromTheRevelation I think men would go mad.]]". This inspired Asimov to write a short story about the coming of darkness to the people of a planet ordinarily illuminated by sunlight at all times.
** ''Literature/TheRestOfTheRobots'': In [[InUniverse the preamble]] to "Literature/GalleySlave", Dr Asimov describes how Horace Gold requested a story from him, but he was too busy working on the biochemistry textbook ''Biochemistry And Human Metabolism'' at the time. However, not long after he said that, he came up with an idea for a story and sent that in.
* Although ''Literature/TheBeach'' is set in Thailand, Creator/AlexGarland wrote the book while living in the Philippines and, in particular, was inspired by similar geography on the island of Palawan.
* Creator/AnthonyBurgess claimed that the inspiration for ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' was his first wife Lynne's beating by a gang of drunk American servicemen stationed in England during World War II. She subsequently miscarried.
* Creator/JimButcher has told the story many times of how his ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series came from a bet made in the Del Ray Online Workshop discussion board. There was a debate about which was more important, a good setting or a good plot. He bet that he could take even the worst idea for a setting and turn it into a good story, and invited his opponent to suggest one. He got back two: the LostRomanLegion and ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. After looking into the background of both, Butcher started writing, but was unable to post the resulting story to win the bet because he thought it was good enough to publish (and get paid for). It grew into a six book series, by which point he'd completely forgotten where the bet was made and with whom.
* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series has some examples.
** According to Sir Creator/TerryPratchett, he got the idea for ''Literature/SmallGods'' after watching a documentary about Khomeini's Iran.
** If certain Australian fans are to be believed, the inspiration for ''Literature/SoulMusic'' came during Pratchett's visit to Australia where, upon discovering that Pratchett had never seen ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', the fans promptly "abducted" him and took him to a midnight screening of the film.
** ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' was heavily inspired by Pratchett's feelings regarding both the First Gulf War of 1990-1991 and the Falklands War.
* ''Literature/TheEmpiriumTrilogy'': While listening to a [[https://claire-legrand.com/faq piece of music one day]], Legrand got a vivid vision of a woman surrounded by fire. A story started to take shape around that image, and the woman herself would later be named Rielle Dardenne. Legrand also took inspiration from various myths in Catholicism.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard got the idea for ''Literature/EndersGame'' as a kid, when he tried to theorize what the military of the future would use to train soldiers in space, thus imagining the Battle Room. That manifested into the original short story, but the full novel didn't emerge until he was trying to decide who would be the protagonist of ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'', until his wife suggested it could be Ender.
* Creator/ChuckPalahniuk once had an altercation while camping, and though he returned to work bruised and swollen, his co-workers avoided asking him what had happened on the camping trip. Their reluctance to know what happened in his private life inspired him to write ''Literature/FightClub''.
* A bit of an aversion: As Giovanni Guareschi related in the introduction to the first ''Literature/DonCamillo'' collection, he wrote the first Don Camillo story very quickly because he was under a tight deadline and had to fill a page in his newspaper pronto.
* Lucy Clarke stated that she was inspired to write ''Literature/TheHike2023'' based on her own hiking trip along Norway's Svelle Trail, though her trip wasn't anywhere near as perilous as the one in the story.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' developed when Creator/SuzanneCollins was watching TV one night and kept flipping between news coverage of the Iraq War and a reality TV show involving young people; the two sort of blurred together in her mind until she came up with the series' premise.
* Creator/SeananMcGuire has [[https://twitter.com/seananmcguire/status/1332481478781857792 stated]] that part of her inspiration for writing her urban fantasy series ''Literature/InCryptid'' was a TakeThat against ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' for the writers' [[StuffedIntoTheFridge poor treatment of]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter Jo Harvelle]]. Verity in particular is partially a tribute to Jo.
* [[https://twitter.com/XiranJayZhao/status/1405980872671588355 According to]] the author Creator/XiranJayZhao, the idea for the Myth/ChineseMythology-infused HumongousMecha ''Literature/IronWidow'' came about from spite and dissatisfaction at the direction ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'' took after the first thirteen episodes. The book was also pitched as ''Film/PacificRim'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale''. They also included a "Bonus Summary for Weebs" naming various other anime influences.
* The works of Creator/StephenKing have a few examples:
** He was said to have gotten the inspiration for ''Literature/PetSematary'' from his own daughter burying her cat in a pet cemetery and his own son nearly getting killed by running into a busy road. It's also been said that he may have been inspired by the 1902 short story by W.W. Jacob's "the Monkey's Paw".
** He was inspired to write ''Literature/SalemsLot'' when he had his English class read ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', and became curious about what would happen if vampires came to America, specifically in a small town.
** He first got the idea for ''Literature/DoctorSleep'' in 1998 at a book signing when somebody asked him what happened to Danny Torrence from ''Literature/TheShining''. This was a question King had often asked himself as well as what would have happened to Jack Torrance had he found [=AA=]. King started thinking about how old Danny was and where Wendy was now, and decided to find the answers with a sequel, but it was a tall order.
* ''[[Literature/{{Impossible}} Extraordinary]]'' by Nancy Werlin was inspired by the song "For Good" from ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''. According to the author, it's specifically the part that goes:
-->''Like a stream that meets a boulder\\
Halfway through the wood\\
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?\\
Because I knew you, I have been changed for good''
* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' is said to have been inspired by Creator/CharlieChaplin's marriage to Lita Grey. Author Sarah Weinman makes a compelling case that many details of the novel came from the story of Sally Horner, who was kidnapped at age 11 in 1948 and taken on a cross-country road trip for a year and a half before finding the courage to make a phone call that led to her rescue. Many of the events in the novel actually happened to Sally.
* Creator/StevenErikson cites Frank Herbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' and Glen Cook's ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'' as his main influences for the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen''.
* The ''Literature/NightshadeTrilogy'' started with the invention of the main character, Calla. The author, Andrea Cremer, wondered what an ActionGirl who could turn into a wolf would be afraid of, and built the rest of the story based on that.
* Creator/EnidBlyton came up with the idea of the [[WesternAnimation/NoddysToylandAdventures Noddy series]] after taking an annual summer holiday at a small village of Studland (which [=ToyTown=] is designed after) in Dorset sometime between the late 1930s and 1940s. Mr. Plod was even inspired after a police officer she meet during one of her trips known as "PC Christopher Rhone".
* Michael Azerrad decided to write ''Our Band Could Be Your Life'', a nonfiction book on underground rock of the 80s and early 90s, after watching a rock history documentary that jumped directly from Music/TalkingHeads to Music/{{Nirvana}}, which he had found jarring.
* Pierre Boulle was inspired to write ''Literature/PlanetOfTheApes'' by a trip to the zoo where the apes' mimicry of human mannerisms set him thinking about the relationship between the two species.
* Kenneth Oppel has a friend very obsessed with bats, and whose enthusiasm began to rub off. Oppel saw potential for a unique story, especially since bats had never been written about before, and started writing the ''Literature/{{Silverwing}}'' trilogy.
* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin heavily based the political intrigue of his ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' on Maurice Druon's ''Literature/TheAccursedKings''. It is no surprise if ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' exhibit such influences. As Martin himself said in the introduction for 2013 English edition (which he lobbied for):
-->''"The Accursed Kings has it all: iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, deception, family rivalries, the curse of the Templars, babies switched at birth, she-wolves, sin and swords, the doom of a great dynasty and all of it (or most of it) straight from the pages of history. And believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets."''
* ''Literature/ThroneOfGlass'' [[https://letthewordsflow.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/i-hear-music-mighty-fine-music/ was inspired]] after Creator/SarahJMaas listened to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmhee3ck6ko a piece of music]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' and deemed it ''way'' too intense for the scene it was used for, deciding a thief or an assassin fleeing the palace would fit the score better.
* Creator/RobertLouisStevenson's ''Literature/TreasureIsland'' began as a watercolor painting done in front of his nephews, who were enthralled and delighted by the appearance of exotic locales with absurdly poetic names.
* Creator/BrandonSanderson got the idea for ''Literature/TressOfTheEmeraldSea'' after watching ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' with his family; his wife wondered what would have happened if Buttercup actively went looking for Wesley after he went missing, instead of immediately giving him up for dead, and he decided to write a story where exactly that happens.
* Scott Westerfeld came up with the idea for the ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'' series after a coworker moved to Los Angeles. The coworker sent an email discussing his trip to the dentist and how everyone in LA seems to have blindingly white teeth. Westerfeld began to wonder about a culture where modifications to beauty like that were the norm and those who ''didn't'' do it stood out.
* The ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series began when [=HarperCollins=] told [[Creator/ErinHunter Vicky Holmes]] to create a story about cats. She wasn't thrilled because she doesn't like cats all that much, but she decided to add things that interested her, such as lots of action.
* Creator/MaryHigginsClark stated the inspiration for ''Literature/WhereAreTheChildren'' was a real criminal case that was all over the news at the time; a New York woman, Alice Crimmins, had been repeatedly tried for killing her two young children in 1965, with there being much speculation over whether she was responsible.[[note]]Crimmins was found guilty of the manslaughter of her daughter Alice in 1968, with the conviction being overturned on appeal. In a second trial in 1971, Crimmins was found guilty of manslaughter again and was also found guilty of the first-degree murder of her son Eddie. In 1973, both convictions were overturned before Crimmins was once again found guilty of Alice's manslaughter in a third trial that same year; she was paroled in 1977.[[/note]]
-->'''Mary Higgins Clark:''' ''Suppose'' a beautiful young mother is accused and later convicted of the deliberate murder of her two young children. ''Suppose'' she gets out of prison because the conviction is overturned on a technicality? ''Suppose'' she remarries and starts a new life, then seven years to the day her two children died, the two children from her ''second'' marriage disappear?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Franc Roddam got the idea for ''Series/AufWiedersehenPet'' after he returned to his Teeside home to find that many of his friends were working abroad on German building sites.
* ''Series/BlackBooks'' came about because of Creator/DylanMoran's view of bookshops as doomed enterprises. Moran said "Running a second-hand bookshop is a guaranteed commercial failure. It's a whole philosophy. There were bookshops that I frequented and I was always struck by the loneliness and doggedness of these men who piloted this death ship", while Creator/GrahamLinehan said his belligerent personality reflected a sign he once saw in a bookshop stating "Please put the books anywhere you like because we've got nothing better to do than put them back". Moran said of the series, "We just wanted to cram as much elaborate stupidity into a half-hour that could make it be coherent and that you would believe".
* ''Series/{{Bottom}}'' was developed while Creator/RikMayall and Creator/AdrianEdmondson planned their West End production of ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'' at the Queen's Theatre. The idea was to create a SpiritualSuccessor to Creator/SamuelBeckett...with swearing and knob gags.
** They conceived TheMovie ''Film/GuestHouseParadiso'' after staying at various hotels while touring ''Bottom'' live shows and thinking, "Wouldn't it be funny if Richie and Eddie ran a hotel?"
* The concept for ''Series/BreakingBad'' emerged as Creator/VinceGilligan talked with his fellow writer Thomas Schnauz regarding their current unemployment and joked that the solution was for them to put a "meth lab in the back of an RV and [drive] around the country cooking meth and making money".
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E5Enlightenment "Enlightenment"]]: Barbara Clegg's extended family spanned several social strata, and she noted with interest the way that her wealthier relations interacted with their poorer kin. Clegg was reminded of gods toying with lesser mortals, and this led to her creation of the Eternals. She also sought inspiration in ''Literature/TheBible'', deriving the prize of Enlightenment from the Tree of Knowledge in the Book Of Genesis. Finally, Clegg seized upon the image of solar winds -- actually streams of charged particles ejected from the Sun -- to develop the premise of the Eternals racing through the solar system.
* According to Creator/MarkWahlberg, ''Series/{{Entourage}}'' was initially conceived when his assistant asked if he could film Wahlberg and his friends, calling them "hilarious." Other reports credit Eric Weinstein, a long-time friend of Wahlberg, with the idea of filming the actor's group of friends. However, according to Donnie Carroll, who was the inspiration for the Turtle character, the idea for a show involving an actor and his friends had come from him. It had originated as a book idea, centered on Carroll's own life and his experiences with Wahlberg, titled ''From the 'Hood to Hollywood, A Soldier's Story''.
* Creator/AaronSpelling admitted the original pitch for ''Series/FantasyIsland'' was a joke. Spelling and production partner Leonard Goldberg were pitching ideas to Creator/{{ABC}} executive Brandon Stoddard. After the executive rejected all of their plans, at least six in all, Spelling sarcastically blurted out: "What do you want? An island that people can go to and all of their sexual fantasies will be realized?!" [[SpringtimeForHitler Stoddard loved the idea]].
* ''Series/FawltyTowers'' was inspired when Creator/MontyPython stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, run by Donald and Beatrice Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair's irascible antics included: berating Creator/TerryGilliam for eating his meals in "too American" a way; throwing Creator/EricIdle's briefcase over a wall because of a "bomb scare" (the scare was that Idle left the briefcase in the reception area); disbelief at Creator/MichaelPalin asking to pre-book the Gleneagles TV to catch a show; after Creator/GrahamChapman requested an omelet made with three eggs, Sinclair brought him an omelet with three fried eggs perched on top; when asked by Creator/JohnCleese to call for a taxi, he argued with Cleese and took his time calling for the cab. Cleese was fascinated by what he described as "the most wonderfully rude man I'd ever met" and called Connie Booth down to experience it, and the rest is history.
* Creator/JossWhedon developed the concept for ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' after reading ''The Killer Angels'' by Michael Shaara chronicling the Battle of Gettysburg. He wanted to follow people who had fought on the losing side of a war, their experiences afterwards as pioneers and immigrants on the outskirts of civilization, much like the post-American Civil War era of Reconstruction and the American Old West. He also read a book about Jewish partisan fighters in World War II that he has said was greatly influential on his writing of the main characters aboard the ''Serenity''.
* Creator/GrahamLinehan was inspired to create ''Series/TheITCrowd'' after a PC tech with questionable interpersonal skills paid a house call.
* According to Brandon Tartikoff, the head of programming at Creator/{{NBC}} during the 1980s, the inspiration for ''Series/KnightRider'' came about when NBC executives started complaining about the problems of casting handsome leading men in television series, because many of them couldn't act. Tartikoff and his assistant came up with a concept for a television show called, ''The Man of Six Words''. Each show would begin with the leading man getting out of a woman's bed and saying, "Thank you". Occasionally, throughout the show, the leading man would say, "Okay", when receiving orders from his boss. Then he would chase down some villains and say "Freeze!" Finally, when the people he had saved from death would thank him, he would say, "You're welcome". For the rest of the show, the car would do all the talking. Although Tartikoff had meant the pitch to be a joke, the NBC executives liked the idea of a television show about a man with a talking car, and approved it for development.
* Creator/TonyRobinson came up with the idea for ''Series/MaidMarianAndHerMerryMen'', after watching his daughter playing with other kids and it occurred to him that if she had been in Myth/RobinHood's gang, she would had been the one who was running it, not Robin Hood.
* The inspiration for ''Series/{{Minder}}'' came from stories creator Leon Griffiths had heard in North London drinking clubs.
* According to Matt Ficner, Aunt Agatha in ''Series/TheNoddyShop'' was inspired by Miss Piggy from ''Franchise/TheMuppets''.
* ''Series/Numb3rs'' came about due to [[Creator/NicolasFalacciAndCherylHeuton Cheryl Heuton]] attending a lecture by Creator/BillNye, which was about getting children excited for math.
* ''Series/TheOutlaws'': Creator/StephenMerchant was inspired by the experiences of his mother, who ran a community service programme and told him about the disparate personalities this brought together.
* Lynda La Plante made ''Series/PrimeSuspect'' after watching reality-television crime shows. After calling Scotland Yard and learning that there were only four female DCIs, she interviewed one of them (Jackie Malton), who impressed her so much that La Plante decided to base the plot on Malton's experiences during her career.
* The idea for ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' came to Creator/PatrickMcGoohan when, following the success of ''Series/DangerMan'', someone asked him, "What happens to secret agents when they retire?" Meanwhile, script editor George Markenstein came across a story from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII about a village used to house [=POW=]s who knew too much.
* ''Series/StrangerThings'' was in part inspired by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project Montauk Project]], a conspiracy theory which alleged that children were being kept in a government facility in Montauk, New York, and having strange experiments such as time travel performed on them. In fact, the show was known as ''Montauk'' early in development. Dr. Martin Brenner is pretty much a [[https://twitter.com/Yolkswagon/status/1772592765257285814 deadringer]] for one of the Doctors alleged to be behind the Montauk Project.
* The series' creator Ashley Lyle was inspired to create ''Series/{{Yellowjackets}}'' when Creator/WarnerBros Pictures announced an all-female film adaptation of ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' (that seems to have since fallen into DevelopmentHell) and noted the huge number of commenters who claimed it would never work since they believed teenage girls couldn't be as vicious as boys.
* The Season 1 director of ''Series/Loki2021'' -- Kate Herron -- based the [[TimePolice Time Variance Authority's]] [[ObstructiveBureaucracy Obstructive]] CelestialBureaucracy on her own experiences working in admin offices as a temp. The show's art style was also based on her love of the ScienceFiction and FilmNoir genres, with her even imagining [=TVA=] Agent Mobius M. Mobius as a detective-like character when pitching the character.
* Jeremy Slater, the head writer for ''Series/MoonKnight2022'', cited both ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' as major influences for the show, particularly in regards to their horror elements. Executive producer Grant Curtis also noted how Creator/KevinFeige drew on a childhood experience with visiting a globetrotting Egyptian art exhibit in Manhattan and being fascinated by the architecture on display there.
* Creator/DamonLindelof has said on the podcast for the miniseries that he decided to base ''Series/Watchmen2019'' around race and specifically the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre after reading Creator/TaNehisiCoates's book ''Between the World and Me''. He didn't even know about the massacre until he read Coates's essay "The Case for Reparation" a few years before he read the book.
* Jack Trevor Story's inspiration for ''Series/YoureOnlyYoungTwice1971'' came when he received a letter from a matron of an old people's home saying there was potential for a series in her work.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/SiIvaGunner leader Chaze mentioned in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuFYGf_yKY8 a video]] that he was inspired by the countless imitators of Creator/LittleKuriboh when ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' was at its peak. Said imitators would claim to have uploaded the next YGOTAS episode, but it would usually turn out to be lazy clickbait. Chaze decided to take the idea, imitating popular video game soundtrack uploader [=GilvaSunner=], but actually put effort into the video, and thus a channel was born.
* Music/BillyIdol got the idea for his infamous 1993 album ''Cyberpunk'' after breaking his leg in a motorcycle accident. While in recovery, he was interviewed by Legs [=McNeil=], who noticed the electronic muscle stimulator on Idol's leg and referred to him as a "cyberpunk", citing the cyborg qualities of his appearance. This led to an interest in cyberpunk culture.
* Music/BrunoMars came up with "The Lazy Song" during a recording session at which he and his production crew were feeling burnt out, having not come up with anything for several days. Mars idly remarked, "Today I don't feel like doing anything at all"... and suddenly had the idea of writing a song about not doing anything.
* The impetus for Music/{{Anamanaguchi}}'s 2019 album ''[USA]'' came in the form of a comment that guitarist/songwriter Peter Berkman read, which was along the lines of "I love Anamanaguchi's music, but it sucks that they're white dudes," related to how [[OccidentalOtaku their aesthetic was very inspired by Japanese culture, but they themselves were four white New Yorkers]]. This ended up sending the band into a mini-identity crisis, with ''[USA]'' being the result of them reconciling what it means for them to specifically be an "American" band, eschewing their prominent Japanese references in favor of a sound that's purely their own.
* When producer James Anthony Carmichael visited Music/LionelRichie, the singer greeted him with "hello, is it me you're looking for?". Carmichael asked 'finish that song', and even if Richie replied IWasJustJoking, he insisted it was a good verse start. The result was "Hello", whose chorus starts with that line.
* While Lori Lieberman watched Music/DonMcLean perform, she was downright taking notes on how his music was making her feel, which formed the basis for "Killing Me Softly With His Song". [=McLean=] would later say he was "very humbled about the whole thing."
* After Music/PaulMcCartney read Pete Townshend saying Music/TheWho's "I Can See For Miles" was "the loudest, rawest, dirtiest song" his band had recorded, he heard it and found the result too melodic and sophisticated, taking it upon himself to write a song that was basically just noise. This resulted in Music/TheBeatles song "Helter Skelter", often considered a proto-heavy metal song.
* AC Newman was talking to a Spanish woman he'd met when he asked her to sing something in her native language to him. When she protested the only songs she knew with Spanish lyrics were {{Techno}}, he just asked her to sing him Spanish techno; he made a mental note that "Sing Me Spanish Techno" would be a good song title, and it became one for Music/TheNewPornographers.
* Music/TheTrammps' SignatureSong "Disco Inferno" was inspired by Film/TheToweringInferno.
* Music/{{Oasis}}: [[Music/DefinitelyMaybeAlbum "Live Forever"]] was inspired by Noel Gallagher getting concerned with the message that "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" by Music/{{Nirvana}} was sending to youth and wanting to give a hopeful alternative.
* Music/HarryChapin enjoyed talking about what inspired his songs. A few examples:
** "Flowers Are Red" was inspired by a comment on his secretary's son's report card, which read "Your son marches to the beat of a different drummer, but don't worry we'll have him joining the parade by the end of the term." This pissed him off and he wrote the song in response.
** "Cat's In the Cradle" was inspired by a poem his wife wrote, and the fact that he was on tour when his son was born.
** "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" was inspired by a truck accident in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He heard the story of a man who died after losing control of his truck while hauling 15 tons of bananas and crashing into town.
* Prince Rama's Taraka Larson once was obsessed with looking up what the number one hit single was on dates when various sources predicted the end of the world - one example was "Until The World Ends" by Music/BritneySpears being the number one hit on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_end_times_prediction the date Christian radio host Harold Camping predicted the world would end]]. This led her to think " if the world ended this year, what would the #1 hit singles be?", inspiring ''Top 10 Hits of the End of the World'', a ConceptAlbum presented as a compilation of hits by ten {{Fake Band}}s who perished during the apocalypse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* The countdown clock featured in [[Wrestling/ChrisJericho Chris Jericho's]] WWE entrance for many years was inspired by a similar clock he saw at a post office that was counting down to the new millennium.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* Creator/DouglasAdams claimed that ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'' came from a 1971 incident while he was hitchhiking around Europe as a young man with a copy of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe book: while lying drunk in a field near Innsbruck with a copy of the book and looking up at the stars, he thought it would be a good idea for someone to write a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy as well. However, he later claimed that he had forgotten the incident itself, and only knew of it because he'd told the story of it so many times. His friends are quoted as saying that Adams mentioned the idea of "hitch-hiking around the galaxy" to them while on holiday in Greece in 1973.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* According to Glen Berger's book ''Song of Spider-Man'', Julie Taymor became committed to what would become ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' after seeing the first page of ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'''s first issue, where Norman Osborn relates the myth of Arachne to his coworker. This led to Arachne's large presence in the first version of the show.
* The first half of ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'''s "Epic III" was originally a lengthy poem that condemned Hades' present-day actions and contrasted it with his love for Persephone. It was changed for Broadway due to Anais Mitchell seeing the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', where the food critic was moved by a simple dish, and deciding the song could afford to be a simpler expression of love.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}''
** The brand was a collaborative effort and its inspirations came from different sources, but the main story concept and title came from Danish concept artist Christian Faber's earlier battle with a benign brain tumor. In his medicine-induced feverish state, he imagined the capsules he ingested as pods transporting miniature warriors battling an infection to save the world that was his body. These became the Toa warriors (sold in pill-like plastic containers) battling Makuta and his forces to save the ailing deity Mata Nui whose body housed an entire universe -- hence the title, "''[[{{Portmanteau}} Biological Chronicle]]''".
** Umbra's toy was inspired by the Toys/{{LEGO}} design team attending a skate derby. In their excitement, they wanted to make an entire line of toys with roller skates, but the execs had other plans, so only one figure was outfitted with them.
** [[SharkMan Pridak]] was inspired by designer Brian Ellis' terrifying experience of accidentally misadjusting his diving gear, plummeting deep into water and bumping into a shark during a team building exercise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' was inspired by developer Katsuya Eguchi's experiences with loneliness after moving away from his hometown in Chiba to work for Nintendo in Osaka; similar to how the player's humanoid character moves to a new community of anthropomorphic animals.
* For ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'', developers Darby [=McDevitt=] and Ashraf Ismail drew on ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' for influence. The former was cited because it was the definitive game about the cowboy rogue archetype and the latter because it was the only earlier example of an open-world sailing game, set in a world of islands. They also looked at ''Film/MasterAndCommanderTheFarSideOfTheWorld'' for its more accurate and well-researched portrayal of naval warfare so as to avoid hewing close to ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''.
* According to [=LocalThunk=], ''VideoGame/{{Balatro}}'' was inspired by other roguelike deckbuilders such as ''VideoGame/SlayTheSpire'', ''VideoGame/LuckBeALandlord'', ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', and ''VideoGame/{{SNKRX}}''.
* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'''s combat system was inspired by how the designer felt it was unfair for bosses to have multiple attacks in when the player characters don't.
* While it was already part of [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} a larger franchise]], Creator/ToddHoward has stated that [[Creator/{{Bethesda}} Bethesda Game Studios']] main influence when developing ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' was Creator/{{Cormac McCarthy}}'s ''Literature/TheRoad''.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: A Realm Reborn'' took a lot of inspiration from western [=MMORPGs=], particularly ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}''. Producer Creator/NaokiYoshida was an avid player of such games, and encouraged his development team to play them as well and take ideas from them.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' was inspired by how Yasumi Matsuno felt intimidated being at his new job at Squaresoft seeing veteran employees as royalty.
* Scott Cawthon, the creator of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', mentioned that the idea came from a review given to a previous game of his, ''VideoGame/ChipperAndSonsLumberCo'', which mentioned the animation made characters [[UncannyValley look like creepy animatronics]]. He took the idea and ran with it.
* ''VideoGame/HeroMustDie'' was inspired by writer Shoji Masuda's father, who was ill with cirrhosis. The idea of a hero growing progressively weaker and trying to do as much good as they can with their remaining time came from his father's own failing health and his desire to make the most of his final years.
* [[Creator/{{Rare}} Ken Lobb]] cited fighting games from Creator/{{SNK}} as the major inspiration for the combat system for ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', specifically citing [[VideoGame/WorldHeroes Dragon's]] ability to link a jump-in attack into his double hitting punch for the Opener > Auto-Double > Ender structure of combos, and [[VideoGame/FatalFury Kim Kaphwan's]] RapidFireFisticuffs super move for Ultra Combos.
* Team Ico got the idea for ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian'' after noticing that players of ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' tended to form a closer bond with Wander's horse than with Mono, the girl who was supposed to be their driving motivation. They thus decided to explore the concept of a game about a human and an animal working together.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'':
** According to Neil Druckmann, some of the dialogue for ''Part II'' is inspired by dialogue from ''Series/TheEndOfTheFuckingWorld''. He has also stated that a lot of inspiration for ''Part II'' came after watching ''Film/TheRevenant''.
** Druckmann had reportedly made a presentation of female role-models from an episode of ''WebVideo/FeministFrequency'', which might explain Abby's design.
** The twist that [[spoiler:Abby]] is a playable character in the game's second is directly inspired by ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'''s own surprise player character.
** A very specific [[WriteWhatYouKnow and personal]] example was also responsible for some elements of the game's plot: Namely, [[https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/video-games/news/the-last-of-us-part-2-ellie-evolution/ a video of Palestinians lynching two Israeli soldiers]]. Neil Druckmann (who is Israeli) admitted to initially being extremely angry at the people who did it and wanting to make them suffer after the first time he watched the video, but eventually regretted wanting to act out on his "gross" thoughts. He then decided that this message of realizing how unhealthy and self-perpetuating passion-induced violence is should form the game's central message: To support this {{Aesop}}, the game would have players live a power fantasy of hate for characters committing similar murders in game, wanting to see them suffer, but when all was said and done make the player seriously question whether or not their blind, hate-fueled retribution was justified.
* [[https://if50.substack.com/p/2015-lifeline According to the creators]] of ''VideoGame/{{Lifeline}}'', the series was created as "sort of like if ''Film/TheMartian'' were a game instead of a movie, and you got to talk to Mark Watney the entire time he’s stranded on Mars." Ironically, a LicensedGame adaptation of ''The Martian'' in the same format as the ''Lifeline'' series would be released the following year after the first entry.
* Tajiri's mentor, Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, based many of his games on things within his own life:
** ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' was inspired by a combination of Miyamoto exploring his neighborhood's countryside, and having an interest in ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', during his childhood. The enemy called "Chain Chomp" ("Bow Wow" in the Japanese version) was even based off of Miyamoto having a bad run in with a neighbor's dog that was chained to a post. The gameplay itself was inspired by ''VideoGame/PacLand'' and ''VideoGame/KungFuMaster'' (the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] port of the latter had been directed by Miyamoto).
** ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' was also based on Miyamoto's childhood, but more so from him exploring the caves he would find around his neighborhood, leading to the series' famous dungeon crawling.
** Miyamoto gained an interest in gardening sometime between making games in the 90s, and this is what led to the creation of his quirky real-time strategy series ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}''.
** He then took an interest in dog breeding, and raising his own shetland sheepdog led to him creating the pet raising sim ''VideoGame/{{Nintendogs}}'' for the Platform/NintendoDS (and his later interest in cats led to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS sequel ''Nintendogs+Cats'' to add felines into the mix). It's also worth mentioning that the name of his dog, Pikku, is what led to the aforementioned Pikmin to getting its name.
* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140122052214/http://www.edge-online.com/features/the-making-of-papers-please/ According to this interview,]] ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'' was largely inspired by developer Lucas Pope's own experience travelling around the world, and that a significant chunk of it was spent at border control, watching immigration officers manage paperwork. This is largely what informed ''Papers, Please'''s own deskwork-shuffling gameplay loop.
* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series is said to be inspired by Satoshi Tajiri's childhood hobby, bug collecting.
* Kouichi Yotsui explained that the inspiration behind the climbing mechanics in ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'' came partly from his own love of mountain-climbing and skiing, but also from a personal experience he went through during early development: during a meeting where the basic concepts of the games and manga were being discussed, Yotsui at one point found himself trapped on the building's rooftop when the door closed behind him. Fearing he could die of exposure (this was before 1989 so cellphones weren't a commodity), he noticed a fire escape ladder and started climbing down the side of the building to reach it, while deadly afraid he could die from the fall. He was also thinking about the game, and how someone has to be '''crazy''' to want to do what he just did.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'': Creator/MasahiroSakurai had always enjoyed fighting games, in particular ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters''. He was, however, concerned that KOF's high skill ceiling was a turn-off for many people who might otherwise enjoy it and other fighting games, particularly in regards to performing special attacks. He went into the creation of ''Dragon King'', the prototype of what would become ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64'', with the idea that players should be able to perform special attacks using simple inputs: specifically, a single directional input combined with a button dedicated to special attacks.
* ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' was inspired by UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars; both involved a civil war caused by ethnic conflicts.
* During a brainstorming session for ''VideoGame/TailsNoir'', developer Nikita Danshin, who lives in Vancouver, scared off some raccoons from his compost bin by using a trumpet. This inspired the game's protagonist who is a raccoon detective, as well as its noir setting of Vancouver.
* ''VideoGame/VampireSurvivors'' was inspired by the creator's past work in the gambling industry, with the point of ''VS'' being to make a game that uses the same psychological manipulation tricks that make gambling so addicting, minus the actual dangers of gambling.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': Many of the series' classic jokes (like whether the [[CoolCar Warthog]] looks more like a [[PantheraAwesome puma]] or not) came from conversations that series creator Burnie Burns had with his friends while screwing around on the Blood Gulch map in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. In fact, Burns was inspired to actually start filming their skits as part of a web series while recording gameplay and letter boxing without the HUD, realizing that doing so made it "kind of look like a movie."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The anonymous creator of ''Music/BadLipReading'' got the inspiration for it from his deaf mother, who had learned how to read lips. He started trying it by watching TV with the sound off, but what he thought was being said was so hilariously inaccurate.
* ''Webcomic/AnOrdinaryPrincess'': Was due to the inspiration of ''Literature/TheOrdinaryPrincess''.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': Tom Siddell was drawing pictures one day, and he decided to draw one using the unused colors from a recently-purchased pack of markers. The colors were pink, drab green, and tan, so Tom drew a pink-haired girl in a school uniform. She ended up with a bored expression on her face that intrigued Tom, so he started imagining what she must be like and what sort of school she must attend. He decided he could make a webcomic about this, and ''Gunnerkrigg Court'' was the result.
* Chesca Hause was inspired to create ''Webcomic/LitterboxComics'', an autobiographical comic about parenting starring {{Funny Animal}}s, after watching ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' with her two young sons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Video]]
* Creator/BradJones was inspired to create WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob after watching Creator/RogerEbert's review of ''Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter''. He said that the review "made me think of how odd it is in general to see film snobs try to review horror or exploitation films...I'm reviewing these movies the same way a pretentious cinema snob would and I'm trying to give some laughs at the expense of the movies to people like me who really do love exploitation films."
** He based the Snob's appearance and voice on an audience member he saw at a Q&A panel for Creator/GeorgeARomero, who told Romero how he had interpreted ''Film/MonkeyShines'' as a metaphor for evolution and the bond between animal and man.
* The works created by Creator/HankGreen such as ''WebVideo/SciShow'' were a major influence on the style of Creator/DavidJohnson's web series ''WebVideo/EconomyWatch''.
* ''WebVideo/VGMyths'' predecessor ''Hyrule Myths'', says on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot53M4UCWG8&list=PLfDC5d996dRH4StrfmU1SEqXjhpstgoML&index=50 its first video]], referencing the ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' Myths debunkings, which appear to have been [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjbtqUJ7gv8 started]] by Kubz Scouts in 2015, and Website/GameFAQS post, presumably [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/189707-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild/75090923 this one]] a few weeks before the video:
--> Idea originally inspired by Yandere Simulator Myths, though I didn't go full on parody as I originally planned.\\\
Original idea for this episode was from some random post on [=GameFAQs=] I lost track of a while back. I'm sorry, Lost Poster, your legend lives on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Creator/SethMacFarlane came up with ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' when he and fellow ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' writer Mike Barker were frustrated following the results of the 2000 election and, rather than complain on end, vented their feelings into something funny. Ironically, the show actually moved ''away'' from political humor after about only a season.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': As shown in the DC Pride 2022 comic anthology entry "Finding Batman", Creator/KevinConroy found the inspiration for his voice as Batman[=/=]Bruce Wayne from his own personal history as a gay man in the entertainment industry. In much the same way that Conroy felt he had to hide who he truly was from his peers for fear of ostracization, so too does Batman hide his true self from many of his own peers, and in the same way Conroy masqueraded as someone who was heterosexual, Batman masqueraded as Bruce Wayne.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': Dwayne [=McDuffie=] got the idea for the Highbreed from, of all things, bananas. Ben even references this by calling the Highbreed Supreme "the Highbreed top banana."
* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' began when creator Creator/CraigMcCracken adopted a dog and wondered what its life had been like before that. The result was a world where [[{{Tulpa}} corporeal]] {{Imaginary Friend}}s can be adopted like pets.
* Several ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' characters were based on ''Franchise/StarTrek'' hypotheticals. [[BackAlleyDoctor Zoidberg]] was based on the question "What was it like for Spock seeing a doctor from a different species?" [[CasanovaWannabe Zapp Brannigan]] is what the crew imagined Creator/WilliamShatner would actually be like as a starship captain, while [[ExtremeDoormat Kif]] (who you'll recall was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn originally]] more of a DeadpanSnarker) was a version of Spock who hated Kirk.
* Creator/AlexHirsch was inspired to make ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' based on his own childhood experiences spending summer vacation with a great aunt. He's made it clear that [[AgentMulder Dipper]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Mabel]] are basically just cartoon versions of himself and his twin sister Ariel. Stan was inspired by both the great aunt and their grandfather and Soos is modeled after a college friend. The Mystery Shack was inspired by a RealLife tourist trap in Northern California named Confusion Hill.
* Many of the stories seen in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' were based on experiences Creator/CraigBartlett and his crew had as children. Plus, several characters are inspired by real people Bartlett grew up with.
* ''WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg'' came about when Cartoon Network executives saw Russian animator Mikhail Aldashin's short film ''Poumse'', a satire on globalization about a salesman selling modern goods to a primitive people, and thought that the premise would be a good idea for a show. Aldashin would serve as supervising director on the series.
* Creator/LaurenFaust, the first executive producer of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', used to play with older ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' toys, but felt the animated shows had little conflict. When Creator/{{Hasbro}} gave her the opportunity to direct the development of ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration4'', she based many of the show's settings and characters' personality traits on her own childhood imagination. In her own words, she made ''Friendship Is Magic'' for her 8-year-old self.
* Creator/JohnKricfalusi came up with ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' through separate circumstances; Ren came about from a 1940s postcard with a picture of a chihuahua in a sweater, while Stimpy was inspired by the big-nosed cats from Creator/BobClampett's short ''WesternAnimation/AGruesomeTwosome''. A friend suggested to him that he pair the two together and the rest is history.
* Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo got the idea for ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' by watching their antics of their infant son. Nearly ten years later, their son would again inspire them, this time for ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'', based on his interests in boarding sports.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** Rebecca Sugar's brother, Steven, and the experiences had growing up with him is often her source of inspiration.
--->'''Rebecca:''' If we’d get stuck for ideas, we used to bug him.
** Beach City is based on the many Delaware beach towns the Sugars visited when they were kids.
** The idea of Lars becoming [[spoiler:a SpacePirate]] came from a cameo he made in ''ComicBook/PugDavis''. There Lars appeared as an extra in a bar [[spoiler:on a space station]], and they wondered how he could have gotten there.%%podcast Minirecaps "Lars of the Stars"
** The landscape of the moon in "Jungle Moon", especially the [[ToweringFlower giant flower-like plants]], was inspired by Joe Johnston visiting a garden full of succulents and playing with his camera to make them seem enormous in pictures.%%podcast Volume 3, Episode 4
** [[invoked]] White Diamond's character was heavily inspired by [[https://youtu.be/bjIJZyoKRlg?t=445 a scene]] from the 1946 educational short ''WesternAnimation/TheStoryOfMenstruation'' where a woman is crying in front of a mirror, the narrator encourages people to be/act happy because "no matter how you feel, you have to live with people", and the woman's ''[[TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack reflection]]'' walks off happily while the real one is still there crying. Rebecca Sugar and other crewmembers she showed it to were fascinated by how dissonant and [[AccidentalNightmareFuel unintentionally horrifying]] the scene comes across as.
** Much of the aesthetic of Homeworld, specifically the Diamonds' palace, came from looking at how UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood (especially the works of Creator/BusbyBerkeley, including ''Film/ZiegfeldGirl'') was "this era where the idea of person as a beautiful piece of furniture was very appealing". The show basically takes that concept to the extreme, as many Gems seem to exist to be living furniture or dance around like cogs for a BusbyBerkeleyNumber. %%Podcast: "Battle of Heart & Mind".
* According to Creator/WalterLantz's press agent, the idea for WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker came from when Lantz and his wife were on a honeymoon in a cabin in California. A noisy woodpecker kept them up all night with its pecking, and, after a heavy rain started, the couple saw that the bird had pecked holes in the roof. There is some debate over whether this is true or an UrbanLegend.
* Owen Dennis came up with the idea for ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' on a return flight to the United States from China. Partway through the flight, he awoke to a darkened plane cabin while the plane was over the Pacific Ocean, and was only able to see the faces of other passengers illuminated by TV screens. His immediate thought was “If I had no idea what this was, this would be pretty terrifying.” Early drafts even had the season one protagonist awake up in a similar situation, albeit on the titular train.
* The idea for ''WesternAnimation/StanLeesSuperheroKindergarten'' came from Stan Lee's love for Arnold Schwarzenegger's ''Film/KindergartenCop'' and Schwarzenegger's desire to make a sequel to the movie.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': Creator/PeterCullen has named his brother, Larry -- a US marine corps soldier -- as his chief inspiration for Optimus Prime, both his voice and his depiction, as Larry advised him: "If you're going to be a hero, be a ''real'' hero. [...] [[GentleGiant Be strong enough to be gentle.]]"
* Elizabeth Ito, creator of ''WesternAnimation/CityOfGhosts'' created the series as a counterpoint to most media’s portrayal of Los Angeles as a predominantly white and famous city, instead focusing on a realistic and diverse view of the city.
* ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic'' was inspired by both Silver Age era superhero comics and Tintin.
* Craig Bartlett got the idea to make ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' an astronomy-based show after working on a project for NASA called the Shuttle Launch Experience, and hearing the astronauts describe how beautiful Earth is. The show was originally a buddy kidcom about a humanoid alien pitched to Creator/CartoonNetwork titled ''Lenny and Nate''. After it was rejected, the NASA project inspired it to become educationally appropriate for PBS, while still having the basic premise of human-like aliens.
* ''WesternAnimation/ElinorWondersWhy'': The show's art style is based on ''ComicStrip/{{Pogo}}'' and ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' according to Jorge Cham.
* ''WesternAnimation/JorelsBrother'' is largely based on the childhood of the series' creator, Juliano Enrico, who had an older brother named Jor-El [[note]]Named after the Superman character[[/note]] who was much more popular and handsome than him; as such, he was often known as being just "Jorel's brother". The other members of the family were also based on his as well; an actor dad who fought for freedom during a dictatorship, an athletic, gymnast mom; a gross, lazy older brother who plays the drums in a band; a grumpy grandma who spends most of her time watching TV, especially action movies; and a sweet, naive grandmother who has a garden and loves fruits. Several episode plots were also [[RealLifeWritesThePlot based on things that actually happened to Juliano or the other writers]], albeit ramped up to whimsical proportions to make the cartoon sillier and funnier.
* The central premise of ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera''--that Manny has the choice to use his powers to be a superhero like his father or a supervillain like his grandfather--is a metaphor for Creator/JorgeGutierrez’s own conflicts about which of his admired family members to follow in the footsteps of, with his father being an artist and his grandfather being in the military.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyAdventuresWithSuperman''
** Once reviews came out comparing the series to ''Manga/DragonBall'', multiple people who worked on the series cheekily came out to admit the influence. Showrunner Jake Wyatt also indulged in this fact, posting a crossover fanart sketch of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy in Creator/AkiraToriyama's style.
** According to Jake Wyatt, the dynamic between [[Characters/MyAdventuresWithSupermanSuperman Clark]] and Lois, along with Lois' characterization, was inspired by Vash and Meryl Stryfe from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. This was in [[https://sutekiniichan.tumblr.com/post/723050864392192000/so-jake-wyatt-one-of-the-creators-of-my response]] to fanart by [[https://www.tumblr.com/comickergirl/722892448828899328/i-guess-i-just-need-to-accept-that-i-am-physically comickergirl]] playfully pointing the similarities in a crossover piece.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:In-Universe Examples]]
* In ''Film/GungaDin'', Rudyard Kipling is inspired to create the titular poem after hearing about [[spoiler: the titular hero's sacrificing his life to protect others]].
[[/folder]]
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