Give your characters a flaw or two that will make success in whatever they do more difficult. (They will also have good qualities that may help or hinder them.) Pick one of the options below for your story with these flawed people.

• Two siblings run away from home together. You decide why. A day or a week later, they learn that some disaster has struck their home town. You decide what. Now, they’re desperate to get back but the disaster has created obstacles. Write what happens.

• One character takes from the other something that’s precious to them both. You decide what and describe it. Write what happens when one goes after the other to get it back.

• Three schoolmates and the dog of one of them enter an abandoned shoe warehouse believed to be haunted. They’re on a mission to rescue their favorite teacher who went in there the week before and hasn’t been seen since. Write what happens.