Writer's Unblock

Method 2: Start With the Setting

Think of a place. Any place. A train station. A coffee shop. Disneyland.

Try something more specific. Where in a coffee shop? Under a table. Behind a bookshelf. On a chair. 

Place characters there. Who are they? What are they doing? Why are they there?

Let's put a few people in our coffee shop. How about a teenage girl sitting in the corner, reading a newspaper. Teenage girls don't normally read newspapers...so why is she? Let's say she's using it as a disguise; she's hiding behind it. Why is she hiding? Perhaps people are coming after her. Who are these people? Why are they coming after her? They're coming after her because she stole something. What did she steal? Why did she steal it? Maybe she actually works for a military organization. She's a spy, if you will. The possibilities are endless.

So look at what we have so far. There's a girl in a coffee shop, reading a newspaper. She's using it as a hiding place. There are people coming after her because she stole something. She's a spy working for the military.

You could go anywhere with this. Be even more creative than my horrible, cliche example. For God's sake, you could start with an elephant in a city of clouds (don't ask... that's the first thing that came to mind). Just have fun with it, and think out of the box-- my idea was horrible, you can do better than that.