- Take the humor road with a disaster deluge. Write a story that involves at least three of these: the end of civilization, dead siblings, drowned cats, a curse on green-eyed men, and the spontaneous combustion of umbrellas! Handicap your main character with double vision, an inability to pronounce the letter t, and a fear of metal. Or make up your own disasters. Write the story.
- In medieval England, the punishment for most crimes—really!—was execution. Henrietta or Henry has been falsely accused of theft and convicted, but she’s (or he’s) escaped from prison in the tower of the local lord’s castle. She’s following a narrow track through the woods on the outskirts of town when a large person drops down from a tree onto the path ahead of her. Write what happens. If you like, keep going and write the story.
- Marco and Juliette are working on a scene together for their school play. Marco is a perfectionist and Juliette is not. Write a rehearsal. If you feel like it, keep writing and end with what happens at the performance.
- Sam, a master at a particular game or sport (you decide which), is having a match against the sentient dragon who is holding her parents hostage. He (or she) knows that it will honor its promise to release them if it loses, and he knows three other things: It hates to lose so much that it is likely to burn him to a crisp if he wins; if it realizes he lost on purpose it is likely to burn him to a crisp; he hates to lose as much as the dragon does. Write the story.