We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house.
Once I have a hook I think has potential - enough to spin out more than a hundred thousand words, then I start turning my attention to characters. Who are these people? Why did this thing happen to them? But the hook always comes first.
The Tort Tax adds to the cost of everything we buy because businesses and manufacturers have to cover themselves and their employees - just in case they get sued by a greedy personal injury lawyer.