“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.”

If you’re familiar with this quote, let go, if you will, of what the Buddha intended. Make it your own. If you are experiencing writer’s block, or looking for a hook for your next short story, I invite you take these three sentences for a creative walk through your own imagination.

1. Is it just me, or would this quote make a brilliant premise for a Science Fiction novel? Imagine the literal ability to become what you think (eg: morph), draw to you kinetically what you choose (eg: Darth Vadar’s force pull), and create what you imagine (eg: Hiro Hamada used a neurotransmitter in Big Hero 6 to control his microbots.) How would this technology work in your world? How would it be used–for good? for evil?

2. This is also an excellent spring-board for Fantasy writing. Shapeshifters become what they think–how? what? why? Can your fairy princess feel the presence of a mystical amulet? Can a legion of elves recreate their lost civilization after an army of orcs destroyed everything sacred to them, using the power of imagination (or dreams?)

3. How about some Magical Realism? Consider what Gabriel Garcia Marquez might have done with these prompts. Use your intimate knowledge of master writers to carve your own path.

4. How about mainstream contemporary? Perhaps your down-on-her-luck protag happens upon a shady self-help guru, looking to line his pockets. The guru might inadvertently place her on a journey of self-discovery, turning bad intentions and worse luck into something quite wonderful, with an emotional HEA pay-off.