Two to three inches of snow on ground here in Madison, WI. For a science fiction writer, it's the perfect day to create a frozen planet somewhere in the frigid reaches of the galaxy. Will I actually do so? Who knows? It's just a perfect example of how a writer can use what's right in front of him to stitch together the fabric of an alien society...a disturbing human dystopia...or a light-hearted space farce.
Have you ever gone to the refrigerator looking for, say, that last piece of pumpkin pie and been unable to find it? After subjecting everyone in the house to an inquisition, you go back to the fridge, and there the pie is - right in front of you!
It's the same with ideas for fiction. Often, they're right in front of you; you're simply not looking in the right place...or too busy looking elsewhere to see what's obvious.
So, when stuck for ideas, I often just remind myself to look out the window. It's amazing what inspiration you can find in the lawn, the trees, and the street of an upper Midwestern town.
That squirrel in the maple can transform itself in an insidiously vicious little pest plaguing the settlers on the planet Lithorn...the hawk just above the tops of the elms suddenly becomes a dropship fighter seeking to destroy our heroes...the fireflies (in the summer) become a race of sweet aliens with deadly defenses....and so on.
I'm sure you see my point by now - the ideas, the inspiration, it's all there right in front of you. All you have to do is look...and then apply hard work!
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