How to Kill Dragons: Writing Excuses Exercise 1

There are thousands of writing resources available, but one that I have found most helpful and inspirational is the Writing Excuses Podcast. The host are Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. They are both hilarious and helpful, all at the same time. If you are looking for experts to follow, start with these guys.

On their website, they tell all new listeners to start with Season 10's episodes. Listen to an episode, do the homework, get better. That is their call to action.

So here we go! You can follow along with me as I go through all of these episodes. If you want to join in, drop a link to where you're posting your content, or just add your content in the comments. Let's get writing!

Writing Excuses 10.1: Seriously, Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

The Assignment

Write down five different story ideas in 150 words or less. Generate these ideas from these five sources:
  1. From an interview or conversation you’ve had
  2. From research you’ve done (reading science news, military history, etc)
  3. From observation (go for a walk!)
  4. From a piece of media (watch a movie)
  5. From a piece of music (with or without lyrics)
This exercise might not generate the very best ideas you’ve ever had, but it will definitely flex your idea muscles in new ways.

The Results

1. Prompt: If you made a clone of yourself, would they have the same memories?

2. Prompt: Scientists hope to mimic the most extreme hurricane conditions.

3. Prompt: Haboobs are used to distract you from the landscape changing itself.

4. Prompt: You accidentally stepped in front of an active shrink-ray and are now the size of a mouse. How do you get big again?

5. Prompt: A village nobody realizes they have the ability to absorb the life force of others as long as they possess their beating heart. He sets out to live forever by collecting only the strongest hearts, the hearts of heroes.

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