These are all exercises that may be more or less useful in planning, brainstorming, clarifying, or unblocking fiction stories. These are things to help before you write (or when you're stuck).
This is sort of the old "make a game of it" thing that mothers said to children (and children found annoying). Or, at least, that's the way it might look at first. Get a bunch of index cards (or just make a list). On each index card, write something you want/need to do in the story. Assign each thing a number of points. Write the minimum necessary to earn those points. The more ambitious the story, the higher the points total for it.
Pretend the story is already written, and that you are a critic writing about it. This could be a general/lay critical overview, and/or a specific, academic paper. Write the critical analysis, then write the fiction to match it.
© Paul Gorman