61. A couple met in high school and married as soon as they graduated. Life wasn’t easy. They had five kids and money was tight. One worked as a domestic servant and the other worked in a factory. Every day was a financial hardship, but they loved each other. Three years after their youngest child leaves home, the couple wins the lottery— and wins big.
62. Write a story about a detective solving a crime that was committed against his or her partner or a crime that his or her partner committed.
63. A deadly virus hits a highly populated metropolitan area, killing thousands of people. After it passes, those who survived realize they have acquired bizarre talents and abilities.
64. Fairies, unicorns, and elves are usually depicted as benevolent. Write about fairies, unicorns, or elves that are evil.
65. A biological engineer sets out to create a superhuman, but something goes wrong, and instead, the scientist creates a vicious, all-powerful monster that can- not be controlled or stopped.
66. Trapped in a stale marriage, the protagonist finds companionship outside of marriage and in the most unlikely of places.
67. Write a story about a European monarchy in which siblings are willing to kill each other for the throne, or there’s a child heir who will inherit the crown but doesn’t want it.
68. Suffering from amnesia, the protagonist is thrust into a strange and hilarious life that he or she has no memory of.
69. Children’s stories sometimes try to help kids solve difficult problems. Write a story about children overcoming nightmares, getting potty trained, wetting the bed, losing a pet or grandparent, or attending the first day of school.
70. A teenager who is obsessed with celebrities experiences conflict with his or her parents, who want to see more focus on academics.
71. A little girl loses her sister to a rare terminal illness. The girl vows to become a doctor and find a cure for this disease. At the age of forty-two, she successfully develops a treatment.
72. Someone is murdered and the only viable suspect is one of the victim’s close family members (parent, child, spouse, or sibling), but the detectives on the case are certain this suspect did not commit the crime.
73. A traveler picks up a souvenir, a colorful rock with one side that is completely flat. As she goes about her travels, she realizes that when she has the rock with her, she can understand any language that people are speaking but can only speak her native language.
74. After a car accident and a minor head injury, a teenager starts having precognitive dreams. Initially, family and friends insist the dreams are coincidences, but the proof becomes undeniable when a government agency steps in.
75. A cult is formed by a small group of people who are obsessed with death. In one ritual, an individual must commit suicide so that the other members can bring him or her back to life.
76. The protagonist is nearing the age of fifty. After a lifetime of living single, child- less, and focused on his or her career, the character has a sudden change of heart.
77. The setting is the American Dust Bowl. Write about a family that decides to stay put as all their neighbors emigrate to the West Coast.
78. Hilarity ensues when a group of friends from the big city sign up for a one-week survival course in a remote mountain setting.
79. Three children are sitting on a log near a stream. One of them looks up at the sky and says…
80. The kids were raised on the mantra “Family is everything.” What happens when they find out their parents aren’t who they pretended to be? Will the family fall apart?