What is life?

As the creators of worlds you need to be able to determine the definition of life.
What are the criteria for something to be alive and of value?

Tell your Writing Story

Today I would like you to reflect on your journey as a writer. When did you decide you wanted to write?

I told stories for as long as I could remember.

When I was 11 my family (Mom, Dad, 7 kids.) moved to the mountains and lived in a two room cabin. No running water, no electricity, no indoor plumbing. All I had was my books, paper and my imagination.

I started on my first book during our family's sojourn at the cabin.

There were about 15 people living in this little ghost town. My brothers and sisters and I would hike through the mountains, fish, camp and just basically lived off the land as much as we could.

I don't think any one of us realized we were living there because we were poor.

There were so many experiences I wouldn't even begin to describe them all.

One of my Favorites:

I was tasked with the chore of getting water. I grabbed the water bucket and stepped out of the door. Our cabin was on one side of the road. the creek was on the other side. We had to hike down the side of our mountain to the creek. On the other side of the creek was the slope of another mountain.

I looked to my right and saw a huge six point Buck staring at me from the other side of the creek.

Our eyes locked and we just stared at each other, me this scrawny little 80 lb girl, it this huge, graceful, soulful creature.

It was my moment of communion with God.

It lasted a moment. And it lasted a lifetime.

Our family lived there for a year and a half.

This experience became the foundation of me becoming a writer.

For the Love of Money

If the world governments were to suddenly collapse how would humanity survive? How would they obtain necessary supplies? Would humanity create a new monetary system or would it rely on a barter system?

Write a scene where a character needs to obtain some goods.
How would the character manage this?

What are your thoughts on the rules of writing?

This is my take on the rules of writing: Learn the rules, internalize the concepts, study practice and live by the rules, until it is time to write something and then throw the rules OUT the window. Pretend you never learned them. Write what you want to write. Break the rules. The story needs to spill out of you. As you write the important rules will stick with you and then your story will be purely your voice and enough of the rules or writing will stick with you to allow you to create a quality piece, but you have to learn and internalize the rules first.

Writing Prompt: Starting the story.

How do you start your story?

Heat seemed to press down on her from all sides, making it difficult to breathe.  A flash of sunlight reflected off the glass front of the building, blinding Savanna momentarily.  Walking into the waiting room of the clinic, she was confronted by a mass of men, women and children crowded in the tiny space.  Dark faces with striking brown eyes stared at her from all corners of the room.  The few members of the clinic staff Savanna could see all slouched with signs of exhaustion.  A nurse sat at the front desk studying a chart, a medical mask covering the lower half of her face.  It took a few moments for her dark eyes to settle on Savanna. 

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m Dr. Taylor, University Hospital sent me.”  Savanna recognized the look in the nurse’s eyes when she identified herself.  She knew she did not look like a doctor.  Although she was nearly six feet tall, her fair skin and pale blonde hair made her look much younger than she was.  Graduating from high school when she was twelve and medical school at nineteen didn’t help convince people either.
From Echoes of Savanna
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006RM66QM

Share your story starts here!

Strange Messages

Have you ever received a strange message?

Perhaps a note or a garbled voicemail or a voice in your head?
Imagine a character who is receiving strange messages from an outside source. Where are the voices coming from? What are those messages telling him to do?
Write the story...

Inside the Mind of a Monster

What makes something monstrous?
Is it because it doesn't think like you?
Write a story from inside of the head of the monster.

Space Travel

In my future fiction novels my characters are starting to colonize space. I have to think about how they get there and how they travel long distances. 

There have been so many stories with so many varieties of space travel It's going to be difficult to find a way to develop an engine that doesn't look like I'm copying someone else. 

I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head, but I would like to hear your thoughts.

How do you think Earthlings are going to expand into the Universe?

Is this real life?

Story idea:

Guy lives a high adventure life (Super Hero, Secret Agent or such).

He dreams of having a normal life, so much so he imagines having a wife and child, going to a regular, boring nine to five job.

He desires this so much he actually lives out his imaginary life in his mind and his super hero duties interfere with his imaginings causing extreme frustration and depression.

Create the story.

Physiological Needs

How do you handle the physiological needs of your characters?
Eating, Sleeping, Bathroom and such?
Write a scene in which your character satisfies a physiological need.
(Keep it appropriate for all audiences)

Minor Characters

Time for a change in perspective.
Write a scene from your story from the POV of a minor character, 
Post the result in the comments.
see what you learn about your character and your story from this exercise.

The Ark

Writing Prompt: Earth is dying. Humanity has created an Ark to send into space. How do we decide who and what gets to go?

This is a premise used frequently in fiction How would you give it a unique twist?