You can have all the technique in the world, but it won’t help without a great story idea. Luckily, there are techniques than can help you create new ideas. A big part of creativity is about making new links between old things. Metaphor, that staple of poetry, does exactly this (“shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”).

Exercise

Write a scene in which you take two unrelated things (a swan and a company takeover for example) and make one flow from the other. The craft is in making the connection seem natural and urgent.