Where Do Ideas Come From?

Film

Although technically it was a book first, the idea of the earth being destroyed and then recreated by someone who wasn't divine came from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In this film, Earth is destroyed by an alien race called the Vogons, and then it is rebuilt by another group of aliens, the Magratheans (who actually created it in the first place, but we won't get into that here!). To rebuild the planet, the Magratheans had a galaxy-sized workshop. This scene struck me and has stuck since the first time I saw it.

I already had the idea of Lucy destroying Earth, but I wasn't sure how it was going to end. While I was watching this movie for the umpteenth time, I realised that this would be an excellent end to the story. Lucy, who destroyed the earth, would have the opportunity to build it again from scratch - any way that she wanted to. The main difference was that the Magratheans had a giant workshop, whereas Lucy only had her imagination (and a little bit of magic).

"Creating a world was no small feat, but Lucy, Akira and Uncle John had been through all the details together. They had discussed the trees and bushes and rocks and mountains of the earth, as well as the animals that roamed upon it. They'd talked about the deep trenches and dark caves and coral gardens of the sea, and the sea creatures who would swim among them. They imagined glorious birds of the sky and all kinds of weather. There was nothing they had not thought of, and all Lucy had to do was visualise their creation in her mind's eye and will it to be real with every cell of her being.

"No pressure," winked Akira."

Your turn:

In my story, Earth was destroyed by Lucy, which was an accident. It was then rebuilt by Lucy. Imagine that the Earth has been destroyed. Who destroyed it? Why did they destroy it? How? Write a paragraph that describes Earth being destroyed.

Now let's think about the ending. Who (this might be a group of people) is able to rebuild the Earth? How did they rebuild it? Do they keep things the same way, or does it end up being a very different place?

Now write a paragraph that describes Earth being rebuilt. Make sure you describe what the Earth looks like, feels like and smells like, and what people's reactions are.

"No, sir, you really gotta see this," insisted Ed. "It's not dying - it's coming back to life."

"Hmph! Nonsense!" said the Keeper, squinting through the lens of the telescope. "Let me see..."

The Keeper sputtered out some words that should not be repeated. He stood up straight, paced the floor a few times, and then squinted through the telescope again.

Instead of a brown, dying Earth, ready to dry and harden and crack under the sun's heat, the Earth was turning green. If he looked closely, he could even see white clouds forming.

"How is this possible?" murmured the Keeper."

Your turn:

Think of a scene or idea from a movie that you really like, and consider how you might rewrite that scene with your own characters. What details would you change? I love the part in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban where Harry and Hermione, two of the protagonists, a time-turner to go into the past and save another character. They also fly a hippogriff, which is a griffin-like mythical creature.

If I used Lucy as the main character in this scene, I might use a device from the Galaxy Tower (remember that hall from my dream? It's the Galaxy Tower, headquarters for the Keeper of the Galaxy). Lucy might be going back in time to save Simon, her pirate friend, from death by seamonster, and maybe she'd fly a dragon instead of a hippogriff.

Pick a scene from a film, use your own characters, and tweak the details.