Yeah I know how you feel completely. I have found that just asking questions and then adding a little of your own experiences into the mix, a good combination. Now I dislike small talk, but if your good at it you can lead the small talk into something deeper, by asking a thought provoking question on the subject, of course you have to gauge how they may respond to slightly odd questions. (this comes from my own experience with a random encounter):
person: Oh yeah and my plants get super happy when I give them this fertilizer, they just sparkle and shine the next day.
me: Did you know that plants can feel things like most other creatures in this world? It's just super primitive.
person: Haha, now I will feel bad about killing weeds, what have you done to me?!
I am not sure if this is the best way to form a spark in a conversation with most people, but I tend to dislike the company of someone who dislikes off the wall deep random deep conversations. In a way if they do respond not so well to it, it sort of weeds out the people you may not want to spend your time with.
And having to deal with small talk is such an agonizing thing to do. The worst part about it is, that sometimes you HAVE to do it, I still haven't figured out how to last more than 20 minutes before blanking out and wanting to run haha. Maybe you have better experience in this field than I do, I wish I could extend the period of time for much longer.