Sometimes, all it takes is a group of people in a random coffee shop somewhere in an obscure corner of the city to get those creative juices flowing. I mentioned my plot to one of the girls who was there, and she was shocked that I was almost at forty thousand words and hadn't even gotten to sending my main character and her comrades to Mars yet. It wasn't until much later that I realized that the true reason why I hadn't sent them en route yet was because it wasn't about the mission, it was a commentary on society.