“The Dude abides. I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that, knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners.”

–The Coen Brothers, The Big Libowski

I don’t often use sports as a setting or plot device, which is why I think it’s time we step out of our comfort zone. Write a story about an athlete whose sport acts as an inciting incident. Think of stories like The Big Lebowski (bowling), The Blind Side (football), and Rocky (boxing). For some of these stories, it’s all about the main character training and making his way to the top. For others, their sport is important to their life but not the purpose behind the story. Chose a sport (pick one you haven’t played before so you can do some research) and write about someone who sucks at that sport. Your story can either be about them becoming a pro, or how their training coincides with an important event in their life.