19. Write a science fiction story set in the future. Perhaps tobacco has been thoroughly exterminated as a plant. Several scientists manage to re-create the plant from an old textbook showing the tobacco DNA structures. What happens next? Or, saddened by the decline of music, a dictator orders a team of scientists to re-create Mozart from his DNA. But as Mozart is buried in a pauper's grave, nobody is sure that the corpse is the right one, and the person they grow turns out to be deaf and much more talented in soccer than in music. So they go for Beethoven, and the new Beethoven becomes a punk rocker. Of course, you can come up with many ideas on your own.

Purpose: To plot a story by combining projections about the future with science fiction. Having an idea for a story is still far from having an evolved plot. But it is one way to get into plotting--particularly if you can connect the idea with characters and places.

Tip: Perhaps you could think of a subplot to integrate into the main stream of events. Romance is the usual accompaniment of many fantasy pieces and disaster events, but perhapsa a murder mystery or another genre might contribute a productive cross-pollination.

Check: Can you focus to a scene and produce enough detail to feel you've entered the story? Can you get into it?
If your initial drafting of the exercise gets you excited enough to want to write the whole story, read some user-friendly science textbooks in genetics or whatever other field you'll play with. Those will give you a few convincing details.