I’ve been taking this writing class called Mugging the Muse by Holly Lisle. (http://HowToThinkSideways.com) One lesson has us think of a new story idea by drawing a map.

Here’s mine.

After you have some things like cities, mountains, lakes, oceans on the map, you start naming things, coming up with ideas about who lives there, what are they all about, and so on.

I’ve developed a whole Fantasy story from this map with people and 2000 year timelines and wars and social strata. Pretty exciting. I don’t know when I’ll write it but if you ever wanted to know the thought process behind writing a story. Here’s just one.