List out two animals you love and two animals you really don’t like (or have negative feelings about). List these animals across the tops of a sheet of paper and free associate related words, phrases, and word-images beneath them (or use some other free association method, such as mind-mapping).
After you’re done, go through each animal’s cluster of words. Circle any word or phrase that jumps out at you as interesting in some way–it has potential, you feel like you could do something interesting with it, it gives you a shiver along your spine, or it feels “charged” with energy.
Next, draw some lines between circled words and phrases under different animals’ headings. You can do this randomly or you can draw lines between words and phrases that you believe would create interesting combinations.
Finally, choose at least one of these combinations and copy it over at the top of a sheet of paper. Using it as a prompt, set a timer for ten minutes and start free-writing!
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