Bret Anthony Johnston, head of the creative writing department at Harvard University, has a new book titled Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. Johnston solicited advice from Joyce Carol Oates, Tom Robbins, Ann Packer, and others (complete list) to assemble a collection of tips and tricks. As Johnston told Radio Iowa:
“They’ve asked the reader to do things such as, find an old postcard and make a story up from it,” Johnson explains, “they’ve asked to them to re-imagine a Greek myth in contemporary times. They’ve asked them to trot out their most shameful experience and render it on the page. There’s other things as well, imagine a scene involving a man carrying a ladder.” He says he was thrilled so many of America’s finest living writers signed on to take part in the collaboration.
markathitakis.com 
As luck would have it, I’ve just imagined Achilles at a convenience store.