: Re: Creative writing exercises for engineers I'm teaching a problem solving course for engineering students (most around 19 years old) and want to increase their creativity levels. Any ideas for

@Kevin153

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My trick: Look for variables. That is: anything I could vary. I use this technique all the time when I need a burst of creativity. And it's a core feature of any workshop I teach that involves creativity in any way (and they all do).

Here's the process applied to generating fiction ideas:

Write down any character, location, object, situation, action, theme, or other story element. It may be fascinating or mundane. It may be one you've thought about and written about extensively, or one that just popped into your head.

Example: A house.

Write down every variable you can think of for the story element. Ask yourself: What could I vary about this? What else could I vary? What else...? When you run out of ideas, ask yourself: If I could think of one more thing, what would it be?

Example


Location
Age
Size
Shape
Color
State of repair
Who lives in it
How many people live in it
How much land
What kind of land
Timeframe
...

For each variable, write down every value you can think of. Heck, write down values you can't think of.

Example: State of repair


The outside paint (last applied 30 years ago) is peeling...
Brand new, but warping because it was built over a landfill filled with tree stumps.
Kept in immaculate repair by a swarm of household staff.
Clean (no filth anywhere), but untidy. Books, 78rpm records, newspapers, unopened junk mail cover every flat surface.
...

Pick a few variables that seem interesting to you. Try different combinations of values for those variables. Randomly pick variables and values, and smash them together whether they fit or not. What story ideas does this give you?

Example: Left as an exercise for the reader ;-)

Here's a writeup on my blog, with an example.

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