I found this idea, as I have found the inspiration for many of my favorite ideas, from a Springhole article, this one about vampires: [A]sk yourself: "What would happen in a vampire story starring/written/directed by ... ?" Try this with anyone and everyone you can think of, no matter how odd or silly it may seem. What if it was the kind of character Amy Poehler plays? What if it was a movie directed by Hayao Miyazaki? What about a story by L Frank Baum? Try this, and you might surprise yourself with the variety and originality of ideas you come up with. I'd like to try an experimental prompt where we each suggest multiple prompts for adding to a list: Let's say that we started with a list of two Actors/Writers/Directors... a list of two basic concepts Hayao Miazaki, Akira Kurosawa Vampire, Police Procedural and each person picks one from each category to combine. I would then write the summary of a Hayao Miyazaki-style vampire story The only present Suzumi wants for her 10th birthday is to go on a tour of the world's Last Forest, but when her parents get her a reservation for a balloon ride, one of the ropes around the carriage comes undone and Suzumi falls into a tree. She stays in place and calls for help all day until she starts to get thirsty, so she looks around for the nearest river and climbs/falls down the tree before making her way through the forest as the Sun goes down. When she reaches the Moon-lit river, she sees a brother and sister of about 12 or 13 floating on a raft, carrying a boar and a net full of fish. She calls for them, they introduce themselves as Hideki and Asami from a village of vampires - people who are faster/stronger than humans at night, slower/weaker during the day, and who can only live on raw meat - and ask if she needs help getting back to her family. They take Suzumi back to their village and convince their parents to give her some of the cooked meat they were going to trade with a nearby human village. After getting some sleep, Suzumi goes with Asami and Hideki to meet with a guide from the human village who'll take her the rest of the way back to civilization, but Suzumi falls in love with everything Asami and Hideki teach her about wilderness survival along the way. When Suzumi returns with her human guide, she decides that she wants to grow up and be rich enough to buy lots and lots of buildings that she can take down to plant more forests, but her parents become increasingly convinced that the Last Forest has corrupted her and they need to burn it down before it takes her away from them again. And add a new option to each list for the next person to choose from Hayao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa, Stephen King Vampire, Police Procedural, Lottery ticket
Stephen King, Lottery Ticket A dream come true for a lumber mill worker becomes a nightmare when, after purchasing a winning lottery ticket worth millions, someone steals his identity. What makes matters worse is none of his family, friends, or coworkers claim to know who he is. Is the identity thief threatening them somehow? He has to discover the truth before he goes insane...if he isn't already. Hayao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa, Stephen King, Jonathan Meyers Vampire, Police Procedural, Lottery ticket, Asylum
