Story Development on a Budget

There are boundless books and websites dedicated to the art of creative writing, many of them quite good. Since leaving college, however, I find I'm not the best student when it comes to following someone else's directions so I set out on my own. When I have a story I want to pursue the first thing I do is write the idea in its barest bones. This can be a single sentence or a paragraph or so, but not usually more than a page. This isn't the stage that I worry about developing great detail.
If the story idea I have is: What would happen if cows took over NASA and colonized Mars? One possible answer is possibly the laziest and most obvious: The event would be a media sensation. Next, Would media members fight to purchase the rights from the herds the would-be astronauts left behind? Then, Why did cows decide to leave the farm for the sterile environs of space?
This method is fast. It keeps the mind moving swiftly along. Story development generally moves along at a brisk pace using this rudimentary technique because the answer to one question may spawn dozens more. Questions grant you the most luxurious commodity known to humans: choice. I'm empowered to choose one of several paths to follow. By the end of the Q&A session it's possible to develop a story line far removed from the original. This isn't a disappointment, it's a bonus: now I have two stories I can pursue. Maybe one of the new developments is far more interesting to me than the original. Perhaps felines replaced bovines and they plot to enslave canines as astrominers on Europa.
It sounds sickeningly simple, especially if you're stuck in a rut and facing a block, but it's effective. Another nauseatingly simple technique is to carry a tablet everywhere and ask, ask, ask using the Journalism 101 model: who, what, where, when, why and how. Who are the cows? What do they want? Where are they going? Where did they come from? When did they decide to revolt? When did they plan to take off? Why on Earth do cows want to become astronauts? The sillier the question, the better. The silly factor breeds creativity.
Look at everything around you. Your environment is not barren. Ask "What if" questions. Challenge. Ideas are everywhere, waiting for your brain to shape them into an intersting story. - Bethany Moran