401. The main character is a big-league sports star complete with a chauffeur, a cook, a gardener, and an entourage that includes bodyguards. An unexpected family death rips into the athlete’s life and brings him or her home to humbler roots.
402. They’re both married, so they meet in discreet locations to carry out their affair. During one such tryst, they witness a horrific murder. If they come forward, their affair will be revealed. If they don’t, the killer will be free to murder again.
403. A young citizen journalist joins the military in order to work his or her way into special ops. While there, he or she discovers that not only is the military aware of aliens, the Air Force also has spaceships that can travel to the far reaches of the galaxy. What happens when, years later, the journalist publishes a tell-all book or produces a documentary revealing the truth to the world, complete with irrefutable proof?
404. Write a story about two characters who switch bodies. What would a man think of being in a woman’s body? What if they were from different parts of the world? What if one of them was an animal?
405. The protagonist wakes up alone in a cold stone room, chained to the floor. The abductor enters. It’s someone from the protagonist’s past—someone who is very angry and deeply disturbed, and it’s all the protagonist’s fault.
406. One character is a thief. The other is a cop. If their relationship is going to succeed, someone’s going to have to give up their career. Who will it be?
407. Write a story about a group of European settlers coming to the New World and discovering native tribes. Show how different characters in the group respond to the natives’ culture in different ways.
408. You can write comedy in any genre; Western, science fiction, romance, and even horror stories can be packed with laughs. Take a serious story from any genre and retell it as a comedy.
409. Write a story for children about animals that live together: cats and dogs, mice and rabbits, deer and butterflies.
410. Write a story about two siblings or best friends. One is obsessed with a rock star or a band. The other is obsessed with politics, a world leader (past or present), or a historical figure.
411. In Nevada, where prostitution and gambling are legal, an ambitious college graduate starts up a business enterprise that would be illegal in most other states.
412. Shortly after moving into a home and beginning renovations, the protagonist discovers a collection of journals that belonged to the original owner—journals that open over a dozen cold cases at the local precinct.
413. In the middle of the twenty-first century, artificial intelligence (AI) is about to reach singularity—the point at which it becomes smarter than humans. This development changes the face of politics when a movement is born that seeks to stop all development on AI. But another faction believes AI will save humanity.
414. How are monsters and fantastical creatures made? One becomes a vampire through the bite of another vampire. One becomes a ghost through death. How does one become a werewolf, a witch, or a wizard?
415. If one has an up-close vantage point, the most realistic horror story imaginable takes place within a war. Write a war story with a twist of horror.
416. The fair’s in town for a week and the protagonist, who has deep roots in the community, falls in love with one of the workers, who lives a nomadic life traveling from town to town.
417. Write a story about a family living during a time when people grew their own food and slaughtered their own meat—before refrigerators, bathrooms, cars, and phones existed.
418. After working at a bank (or some other high-end job) for ten years, the protagonist throws it all away to do something crazy (become an artist, sail around the world, etc.). Write it as a comedy.
419. It’s important for children to learn their numbers. Write a counting book that covers numbers, at least up to ten. You can write separate vignettes for each number, write a story linking all the numbers together, or write a nonsense rhyme about each number.
420. The protagonist was raised by one parent and never knew the other. Write the story of how he or she finds this missing parent and the first time they meet.