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To my mind this sparks the idea -- where did the young man come from, where did he go. Why did he confront the man who could easily have been the child's father?

I try to look closely at everything, even the adverts can spark the odd crazy idea. Take this advert for example (the first one I found in a woman's magazine):

Advanced skincare with the XXXXXXX XXXX.

Thanks to XXXXXX's you can now boost your skin's natural renewal

with new XXXX Healthy difference Cream.....

Advanced skincare? Skin renewal? Possibly a good starting place for a fantasy story and, with research, definitely a science fiction. Perhaps even envisage a scifi/fantasy where the space ship is

a huge intergalactic creature and a young energetic wizard-scientist discovers a cream which seals, heals and renews the flesh of the creatures. This would aid them in battles and keep them alive longer in adverse space conditions.

Well, it's just a thought....

The question's not in how to try but more in who, how, what and why?

Seeing things and making notes isn't the end of the exercise. I can collect and collate observations until they fill books and books fill boxes. Which they do. That doesn't make them a fully fledged idea though. Once the basics have been collected they have to go through a kind of inquisition which will make them burgeon into an idea.

So what if you have a cream that will renew flesh, a balloon which reflects the image of some evil entity it temporarily meets. The next process which these observations undergo will mould them into a basic fantasy plot. The technique is very simple and one that any parent of young children will tell you they recognize with frustrating clarity. I merely ask questions.

Take the balloon. How does that become a story?

Well I had already undergone a few questions and answers to get to the image idea any way, straight forward questions like. What could make the balloon special to be noticed? Would it be the balloon or something else? Would it be something in the building it was clinging to? What could be in that building? Where did it come from? How does it live, feed, contact with humans?

I sit down with an A5 notebook and ask myself all of these questions. As the answers surface I will ask questions about the answers. Always asking questions, and working within the (created) world's limitations, I came up with this:

The balloon is a child's toy. The 'spirit of evil' was attracted to the balloon because it was a child. The spirit is evil because it is in torment. It is in torment because the child it was, was beaten and tortured to death. It feeds off the fear and souls of the living. It seeks revenge. When the story ends it will be avenged. It uses what tools it is familiar with (e.g.. balloons and toys) to create the fear and death (balloon taking horrific face. Skateboard placed at top of stairs for someone to step on and kill themselves.) The house it inhabits is a block of apartments and everyone within it lives in a kind of fear. No one can move out because they are too poor to move. The child spirit must be appeased and 'destroyed/removed' from this plane of existence. Use the 'Love conquers all' ploy. Who would love the child spirit. A child. How would that child meet him. Originally in his/her dreams....

I won't go any further as I hope this gives a full enough description of how the questioning process works. In fact it is essential to know when to stop the questioning. For a short story it is unnecessary to go into the detail that would be required for a novel. For something the length of this article I used about two A5 sides of sparsely handwritten notes taken from this process.

I find also that the questioning process weeds out the inconsistencies. For example, assume I'm writing a story where the unsung hero suddenly rises from herding his father's pigs to kingship and glorious victory as a famous warrior. The questions would remind me that a pig farmer wouldn't know how to use a sword. In fact all he would know is pig farming. The questions then teach me how to create a character from him that influences those he needs around him, and together they achieve the goals which the plot has set for him.

See the stranger with the glazed stare

This is the process I follow, steam from the coffee cup misting my glasses, as I sit and gaze unfocused on the people around me. The waitress sighs then removes yet another used cup and saucer and wonders if I'm glued to the seat. The pen frozen in my hand as the questions, thoughts and ideas meld together in my mind.

Maybe it's a personal thing, perhaps this is a method that only I can use. If that was the case I wonder what would have happened that day in the airport lounge if Terry Pratchett had said,

'Oh another one of those hard to control suitcases...."

I believe it is the nature of an author to ask questions. Eventually asking the right one to produce that gem of an idea, that perfect plot. I hope that in the long, dark idea-blanked night of your soul, I have been of some assistance to help speed you on your way.